nidvsnurWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: nid is a preposition, nur is a particle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nid” is a preposition and “nur” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,185
“nid” frequency rank
#40
“nur” frequency rank
32225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nid nur
Definition süddeutsch und unterhalb generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage

Where the eye mixes nid and nur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
nid
3 ch
nur

Visual trap between nid and nur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nid is [niːt] while nur is [nuːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nid is recorded at frequency rank #32,185, classified as aprep, pronounced [niːt]. nur is at rank #40, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [nuːɐ̯].

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 32225, this pair ranks #1,712,063 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nid vs nur

Shared letters: n. Private to "nid": di. Private to "nur": ru.

"nid" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nid" for "nur" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nid" is a preposition and "nur" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nid" or "nur"?
"nur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40 in our German list, against #32,185 for "nid". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,712,063 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nid" and "nur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nid vs nox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,712,063 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list