nice vs nieces, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nice” is an adjective and “nieces” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#423
“nice” frequency rank: #25,858
“nieces” frequency rank: 26281
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nice	nieces
Definition	Pleasant, satisfactory.	plural of niece

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nice and nieces apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

nice

6 ch

nieces

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nice is /naɪs/ while nieces is /ˈnisɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nice is recorded at frequency rank #423, classified as anadj, pronounced /naɪs/. nieces is at rank #25,858, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈnisɪz/.

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 26281, this pair ranks #387,882 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nice vs nieces

Shared letters: cein. Private to "nice": -. Private to "nieces": s.

"nice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "nieces" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

nice ← ncie · nicce · niec · nnice
nieces ← ineces · neices · nicees · niecces · niecess · niecse · nieecs · nnieces

Frequency comparison

nice#423

nieces#25,858

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nice" and "nieces" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nice" is an adjective and "nieces" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "nice" or "nieces"?

"nice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #423 in our English list, against #25,858 for "nieces". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nice vs nieces

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “nice”; for a noun, it's “nieces”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nice” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable