Which to use
“nigh” is an adjective and “night” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,298
- “nigh” frequency rank
- #221
- “night” frequency rank
- 21519
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nigh | night |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Near, close by. | The time when the Sun is below the horizon when the sky is dark. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nigh and night apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nigh is /naɪ/ while night is /naɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “nigh” sits inside “night”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nigh is recorded at frequency rank #21,298, classified as anadj, pronounced /naɪ/. night is at rank #221, tagged as anoun, pronounced /naɪt/.
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 21519, this pair ranks #423,303 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nigh vs night
Shared letters: ghin. Private to "nigh": -. Private to "night": t.
"nigh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "night" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "nigh" and "night" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "nigh" or "night"?
Remembering nigh vs night
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “nigh”; for a noun, it's “night”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nigh” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable