non vs nur, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#5,204
“non” frequency rank: #40
“nur” frequency rank: 5244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	non	nur
Definition	nicht	generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage

Letter map: non vs nur

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

3 ch

non

3 ch

nur

Grammar separator: non vs nur

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: non is anadverb and nuraparticle. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

non is recorded at frequency rank #5,204, classified as anadv, pronounced […]. 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 5244, this pair ranks #1,995,376 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of non vs nur

Shared letters: n. Private to "non": o. Private to "nur": ru.

"non" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "non" and "nur" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "non" is an adverb and "nur" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"nur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40 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.

Useful next steps

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

Full dictionary entry for "non" 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 #1,995,376 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"non" and "nur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "non vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,995,376 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.