nur

[nuːɐ̯]

/[nuːɐ̯]/ particle

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

The verdict

“nur” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #40) as a particle. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#40
frequency rank, German
1,954
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage

Corpus desk

Index DE-nur · nur · German

nur · rank #40 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #40
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,954
  • PHOTO-FINISH war

Nearest frequency peer: war (-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 „nur“

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

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „nur“ 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).

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

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

Key facts for nur
PropertyValue
Headwordnur
LanguageGerman
Part of speechParticle
IPA[nuːɐ̯]
Letters3
Frequency rank#40
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „nur“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).nurliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „war“ (#39), „wenn“ (#41), „du“ (#38). Unter 1,954 „N“-Lemmata liegt „nur“ bei #40. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for nur is neighbouring look-alikes ("ny", "NVA", …), not just typos; it is aparticle pronounced [nuːɐ̯]. Frequency #40 among 1,954 “N” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

nur doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ny", "NVA", "nut", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is nur, spelled N-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage
  2. 2
    drückt ausschließlichen Bezug auf einen Fokusbereich aus
  3. 3
    drückt die Verminderung einer qualitativen oder quantitativen Aussage aus
  4. 4
    unterstreicht den auffordernden Charakter eines Imperativs

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Nur Gott kann uns jetzt noch helfen.
  2. „Das ersehnte Bergerlebnis ist nur auf dem Wege über ein gewisses Wagnis erreichbar.“

Synonyms

alleinigbloßausschließlichnichts alslediglichdoch

Antonyms

unter anderem

This word in other languages

only(English)sólo(Español)seulement(Français)apenas(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 "nur"?
"nur" is spelled N-U-R. The IPA pronunciation is [nuːɐ̯].
What does "nur" mean?
As a particle, "nur" means: generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage
What words are commonly confused with "nur"?
"nur" is commonly confused with "ny", "NVA", "nut". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nur"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nur" is [nuːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nur" come from?
"nur" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "nur", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

war#39wir#37was#44hat#33

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list