nie vs non, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nie” and “non” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#199
“nie” frequency rank: #5,204
“non” frequency rank: 5403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nie	non
Definition	zu keiner Zeit, zu keinem Zeitpunkt	nicht

Letter map: nie vs non

Shared letters muted; letters that set nie and non apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

nie

3 ch

non

Corpus notes: nie and non

nie and non are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nie is recorded at frequency rank #199, classified as anadv, pronounced [niː]. non is at rank #5,204, tagged as anadv, pronounced […].

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 5403, this pair ranks #1,994,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nie vs non

Shared letters: n. Private to "nie": ei. Private to "non": o.

"nie" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "non" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nie" and "non" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "nie" or "non"?

"nie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #199 in our German list, against #5,204 for "non". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "nie" and "non".

Full dictionary entry for "nie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "non" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,994,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nie" and "non" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "non vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,994,869 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.