Which to use
“nigh” and “ninth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,298
- “nigh” frequency rank
- #6,387
- “ninth” frequency rank
- 27685
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nigh | ninth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Near, close by. | The ordinal form of the number nine. |
Where the eye mixes nigh and ninth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses nigh with ninth
A purely visual mix-up. nigh (/naɪ/) and ninth (/naɪnθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27685, 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/. ninth is at rank #6,387, tagged as anadj, pronounced /naɪnθ/.
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 27685, this pair ranks #376,940 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of nigh vs ninth
Shared letters: hin. Private to "nigh": g. Private to "ninth": t.
"nigh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ninth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nigh" and "ninth" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "nigh" or "ninth" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "nigh" and "ninth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nigh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ninth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,940 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nigh" and "ninth" 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 #376,940 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.