niece

/niːs/

//niːs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"niece" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“niece” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #9,371. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#9,371
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece").

Corpus desk

Index EN-niece · niece · English

niece · rank #9,371 · 6 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #9,371
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH nickel

Nearest frequency peer: nickel (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “niece”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “niece” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

niece vs nine
60% similar
niece vs Nike
40% similar
niece vs Nile
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for niece
PropertyValue
Headwordniece
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/niːs/
Letters5
Frequency rank#9,371
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “niece”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).niecelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “nickel” (#9,370), “nm” (#9,372), “nap” (#9,369). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “niece” is #9,371. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around niece (IPA /niːs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #9,371 among 1,534 “N” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for niece, with forms such as "inece", "neice", and "nicee". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "nine", "Nike", "Nile", 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 Middle English nece (“niece, granddaughter”), from Old French nece (“niece, granddaughter”) (Modern French nièce (“niece”)) from Late Latin neptia, representing Latin neptis (“granddaughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *néptih₂ (“granddaughter, niece”).… The correct English form is niece, spelled N-I-E-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece").
  2. 2
    A daughter of one’s cousin or cousin-in-law

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how niece appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. My niece just celebrated her 15th birthday.

Etymology

From Middle English nece (“niece, granddaughter”), from Old French nece (“niece, granddaughter”) (Modern French nièce (“niece”)) from Late Latin neptia, representing Latin neptis (“granddaughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *néptih₂ (“granddaughter, niece”). Doublet of nift.

Synonyms

nift

Antonyms

nephewauntuncle

This word in other languages

sobrina(Español)nièce(Français)Nichte(Deutsch)sobrinha(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • inece
  • neice
  • nicee
  • niecce
  • nieec
  • nniece

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of niece - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

inece2neice2nicee2niecce1nieec2nniece1
Edit distance from "niece"

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

How do you spell "niece"?
"niece" is spelled N-I-E-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /niːs/.
What does "niece" mean?
As a noun, "niece" means: A daughter of one’s sibling, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; either the daughter of one's brother ("fraternal niece"), or of one's sister ("sororal niece").
What words are commonly confused with "niece"?
"niece" is commonly confused with "nine", "Nike", "Nile". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "niece"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "niece" is /niːs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "niece"?
From Middle English nece (“niece, granddaughter”), from Old French nece (“niece, granddaughter”) (Modern French nièce (“niece”)) from Late Latin neptia, representing Latin neptis (“granddaughter”), from Proto-Indo-European *néptih₂ (“granddaughter... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "niece", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Libya#9,356scent#9,396slate#9,397Hindi#9,344

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

Hans6 variantsbash6 variantsapollo6 variantsfries6 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list