ng

[ŋ]

/[ŋ]/ character

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ng” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #17,663) as a character. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#17,663
frequency rank, German
1,954
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - zwanzigster Buchstabe des Shona-Alphabets (Minuskel)

Corpus desk

Index DE-ng · ng · German

ng · rank #17,663 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #17,663
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,954
  • PHOTO-FINISH Neuordnung

Nearest frequency peer: Neuordnung (-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.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „ng“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „ng“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ng vs NS
0% similar
ng vs Ni
0% similar
ng vs nm
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ng
PropertyValue
Headwordng
LanguageGerman
Part of speechCharacter
IPA[ŋ]
Letters2
Frequency rank#17,663
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „ng“

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).ngliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Neuordnung“ (#17,662), „Nächten“ (#17,664), „negativer“ (#17,661). Unter 1,954 „N“-Lemmata liegt „ng“ bei #17,663. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ng is neighbouring look-alikes ("NS", "Ni", …), not just typos; it is acharacter pronounced [ŋ]. Frequency #17,663 among 1,954 “N” headwords. Gloss: "zwanzigster Buchstabe des Shona-Alphabets (Minuskel)".

Zero misspellings are on record for ng in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NS", "Ni", "nm", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is ng, spelled N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    zwanzigster Buchstabe des Shona-Alphabets (Minuskel)

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 "ng"?
"ng" is spelled N-G. The IPA pronunciation is [ŋ].
What does "ng" mean?
As a character, "ng" means: zwanzigster Buchstabe des Shona-Alphabets (Minuskel)
What words are commonly confused with "ng"?
"ng" is commonly confused with "NS", "Ni", "nm". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ng"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ng" is [ŋ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ng" come from?
"ng" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list