nee
/neɪ/
"nee" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“nee” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,160 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #22,160
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative spelling of née.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /neɪ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #22,160 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nee” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for nee is 3 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /neɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,160 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Alternative spelling of née.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for nee in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NJ", "ni", "Ng", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French née, feminine of né, past participle of naître, to be born. The correct English form is nee, spelled N-E-E.
Definition
- 1Alternative spelling of née.
Etymology
From French née, feminine of né, past participle of naître, to be born.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “nee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /neɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “NJ” - see the side-by-side comparison. nee vs NJ
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.