nun

[nuːn]

/[nuːn]/ adv

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

The verdict

“nun” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #130) as an adverb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#130
frequency rank, German
1,954
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - zu diesem Zeitpunkt, zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt, in dem Moment

Corpus desk

Index DE-nun · nun · German

nun · rank #130 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #130
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,954
  • PHOTO-FINISH Nichts

Nearest frequency peer: Nichts (-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 „nun“

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

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „nun“ 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).

nun vs ny
33% similar
nun vs nur
67% similar
nun vs NVA
0% similar

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

Key facts for nun
PropertyValue
Headwordnun
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdverb
IPA[nuːn]
Letters3
Frequency rank#130
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „nun“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.nunliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Nichts“ (#129), „kommt“ (#128), „Leben“ (#132). Unter 1,954 „N“-Lemmata liegt „nun“ bei #130. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for nun is neighbouring look-alikes ("ny", "nur", …), not just typos; it is anadverb pronounced [nuːn]. Frequency #130 among 1,954 “N” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

nun has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ny", "nur", "NVA", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is nun, spelled N-U-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    zu diesem Zeitpunkt, zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt, in dem Moment
  2. 2
    in unmittelbarere Zukunft
  3. 3
    in unmittelbarer Vergangenheit
  4. 4
    Fortführung der Rede, zeitliche Folge
  5. 5
    Im Satzanfang, elliptisch, zur Bezeichnung eines Ruhepunktes in der Rede, einer Folgerung, Einwendung oder Einräumung.
  6. 6
    Im Satzanfang, zur Einleitung einer Frage

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Was haben wir nun?“
  2. Nun ziehen Sie die Schraube fest.

Synonyms

jetztaugenblicklichgegenwärtiggeradegleichanschließendebensoebenunmittelbar

This word in other languages

now(English)ahora(Español)maintenant(Français)agora(Português)

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 "nun"?
"nun" is spelled N-U-N. The IPA pronunciation is [nuːn].
What does "nun" mean?
As an adverb, "nun" means: zu diesem Zeitpunkt, zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt, in dem Moment
What words are commonly confused with "nun"?
"nun" is commonly confused with "ny", "nur", "NVA". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nun"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nun" is [nuːn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nun" come from?
"nun" 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 "nun", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wer#133hab#126ihm#137ihn#140

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list