NierevsniesenTell them apart

Quick tell: Niere is a noun, niesen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Niere” is a noun and “niesen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,081
“Niere” frequency rank
#29,259
“niesen” frequency rank
46340
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Niere niesen
Definition paarig angelegtes bohnenförmiges Ausscheidungsorgan, das durch Bildung von Harn Gifte und Endprodukte des Stoffwechsels ausscheidet (beim Menschen etwa: 4 × 7 × 11 cm) ruckartig und meistens laut Luft durch Nase und/oder Mund ausstoßen (als Reflex auf einen Reiz der Nasenschleimhaut), ohne darüber Kontrolle zu haben

Where the eye mixes Niere and niesen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Niere
6 ch
niesen

Visual trap between Niere and niesen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Niere is [ˈniːʁə] while niesen is [ˈniːzn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Niere is recorded at frequency rank #17,081, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈniːʁə]. niesen is at rank #29,259, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈniːzn̩].

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 46340, this pair ranks #1,322,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Niere vs niesen

Shared letters: ein. Private to "Niere": r. Private to "niesen": s.

"Niere" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "niesen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Niereneire · nieer · nierre · niree · nniere
  • nieseninesen · neisen · nieesn · niesenn · niesne · niessen · niseen · nniesen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Niere" for "niesen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Niere" is a noun and "niesen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Niere" or "niesen"?
"Niere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,081 in our German list, against #29,259 for "niesen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Niere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "niesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,322,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Niere" and "niesen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "niesen vs Nissen". 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 #1,322,418 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