Which to use
“nape” is a noun and “Napier” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,953
- “nape” frequency rank
- #24,527
- “Napier” frequency rank
- 69480
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nape | Napier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The back part of the neck. | A Scottish surname originating as an occupation for someone who sold table linen, or was in charge of the linen of a great house. |
Letter map: nape vs Napier
Shared letters muted; letters that set nape and Napier apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. nape runs 4 letters (CVCV) against Napier's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: nape vs Napier
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nape is anoun and Napieraname. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nape is recorded at frequency rank #44,953, classified as anoun, pronounced /neɪp/. Napier is at rank #24,527, tagged as aname.
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 69480, this pair ranks #54,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nape vs Napier
Shared letters: aenp. Private to "nape": -. Private to "Napier": ir.
"nape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "Napier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nape" for "Napier" ever safe?
Frequency check: "nape" vs "Napier" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "nape" vs "Napier" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "nape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Napier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nape" and "Napier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nape vs NPL". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #54,392 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.