Which to use
“nigh” is an adjective and “nights” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,298
- “nigh” frequency rank
- #3,186
- “nights” frequency rank
- 24484
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nigh | nights |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Near, close by. | At night (during night-time, especially on a regular basis). |
Where the eye mixes nigh and nights
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: nigh vs nights
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nigh is /naɪ/ while nights is /naɪts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nigh” sits inside “nights”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24484, 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/. nights is at rank #3,186, tagged as anadv, pronounced /naɪts/.
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 24484, this pair ranks #401,597 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nigh vs nights
Shared letters: ghin. Private to "nigh": -. Private to "nights": st.
"nigh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "nights" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "nigh" and "nights" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "nigh" vs "nights" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "nigh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nights" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,597 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nigh" and "nights" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "NEH vs nigh". 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 #401,597 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.