Which to use
“nigh” is an adjective and “nis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,298
- “nigh” frequency rank
- #33,760
- “nis” frequency rank
- 55058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nigh | nis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Near, close by. | A nix; a hobgoblin, especially one that resides in a farm house. |
Letter map: nigh vs nis
Shared letters muted; letters that set nigh and nis apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. nigh runs 4 letters (CVCC) against nis's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: nigh vs nis
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nigh is anadjective and nisanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55058, 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/. nis is at rank #33,760, tagged as anoun.
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 55058, this pair ranks #136,456 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of nigh vs nis
Shared letters: in. Private to "nigh": gh. Private to "nis": s.
"nigh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "nis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nigh ← ingh · ngih · niggh · nighh · nihg · nnigh
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nigh" and "nis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "nigh" or "nis"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "nigh" and "nis".
- Full dictionary entry for "nigh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #136,456 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nigh" and "nis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nis 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 #136,456 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.