Which to use
“nic” is a pronoun and “nicht” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,733
- “nic” frequency rank
- #8
- “nicht” frequency rank
- 33741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nic | nicht |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nichts | Partikel, die die Verneinung, die Negierung beziehungsweise die Negation ausdrückt |
Where the eye mixes nic and nicht
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. nic runs 3 letters (CVC) against nicht's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between nic and nicht
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nic is [ɲit͡s] while nicht is [nɪçt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nic” sits inside “nicht”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nic is recorded at frequency rank #33,733, classified as apron, pronounced [ɲit͡s]. nicht is at rank #8, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [nɪçt].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 33741, this pair ranks #1,679,099 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nic vs nicht
Shared letters: cin. Private to "nic": -. Private to "nicht": ht.
"nic" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nicht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nicht ← incht · nciht · niccht · nichht · nichtt · nicth · nihct · nnicht
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nic" for "nicht" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "nic" or "nicht" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "nic" and "nicht" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nicht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,679,099 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nic" and "nicht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nic vs nox". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,679,099 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.