nicevsnivelTell them apart

Quick tell: nice is a adjective, nivel is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nice” is an adjective and “nivel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,120
“nice” frequency rank
#333
“nivel” frequency rank
22453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nice nivel
Definition Amable, simpático. Altitud de un punto específico, medida como la distancia normal a un plano de referencia.

Where the eye mixes nice and nivel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
nice
5 ch
nivel

Why the eye confuses nice with nivel

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nice is /naɪs/ while nivel is [niˈβ̞el]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nice is recorded at frequency rank #22,120, classified as anadj, pronounced /naɪs/. nivel is at rank #333, tagged as anoun, pronounced [niˈβ̞el].

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 22453, this pair ranks #250,267 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nice vs nivel

Shared letters: ein. Private to "nice": c. Private to "nivel": lv.

"nice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nivel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • niceince · ncie · nicce · niec · nise · nnice
  • nivelinvel · nibel · nievl · nivell · nivle · nivvel · nnivel · nviel

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nice" and "nivel" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nice" is an adjective and "nivel" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nice" or "nivel"?
"nivel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #333 in our Spanish list, against #22,120 for "nice". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nivel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,267 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nice" and "nivel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "naces vs nice". 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 #250,267 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list