Nadelöhr

[ˈnaːdl̩ˌʔøːɐ̯]

/[ˈnaːdl̩ˌʔøːɐ̯]/ noun

The verdict

“Nadelöhr” is uncommon German (frequency #59,027 among 1,954 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#59,027
frequency rank, German
1,954
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - kreisförmige oder auch ovale Öffnung am Ende einer Nähnadel

Corpus desk

Index DE-nadelohr · Nadelöhr · German

Nadelöhr · rank #59,027 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #59,027
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,954
  • PHOTO-FINISH nachlese

Nearest frequency peer: nachlese (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „Nadelöhr“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Nadelöhr“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Nadelöhr
PropertyValue
HeadwordNadelöhr
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈnaːdl̩ˌʔøːɐ̯]
Letters8
Frequency rank#59,027
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Nadelöhr“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Nadelöhrfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „nachlese“ (#59,026), „nails“ (#59,028), „Nachbardorf“ (#59,025). Unter 1,954 „N“-Lemmata liegt „Nadelöhr“ bei #59,027. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Nadelöhr is uncommon German at frequency #59,027 among 1,954 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈnaːdl̩ˌʔøːɐ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Nadelöhr has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Nadelöhr, spelled N-A-D-E-L-Ö-H-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    kreisförmige oder auch ovale Öffnung am Ende einer Nähnadel
  2. 2
    Engstelle, beispielsweise im Straßenverkehr

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Nadelöhr appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ich kann den Faden nicht einfädeln, weil ich mit dem Faden das Nadelöhr nicht treffe.
  2. „Und weiter sage ich euch: Es ist leichter, dass ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr gehe, als dass ein Reicher ins Reich Gottes komme.“

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Nadelöhr"?
"Nadelöhr" is spelled N-A-D-E-L-Ö-H-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈnaːdl̩ˌʔøːɐ̯].
What does "Nadelöhr" mean?
As a noun, "Nadelöhr" means: kreisförmige oder auch ovale Öffnung am Ende einer Nähnadel
How do you pronounce "Nadelöhr"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Nadelöhr" is [ˈnaːdl̩ˌʔøːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Nadelöhr" come from?
"Nadelöhr" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Nadelöhr", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list