Nils

name

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

The verdict

“Nils” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #38,446. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#38,446
frequency rank, French
1,563
“N” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prénom masculin scandinave, correspondant à Nicolas en français.

Corpus desk

Index FR-nils · Nils · French

Nils · rank #38,446 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #38,446
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,563
  • PHOTO-FINISH Niall

Nearest frequency peer: Niall (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « Nils »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « Nils » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

Nils vs NS
25% similar
Nils vs nos
25% similar
Nils vs nul
25% similar

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

Key facts for Nils
PropertyValue
HeadwordNils
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
Letters4
Frequency rank#38,446
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « Nils »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).Nilsse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Niall » (#38,445), « nerd » (#38,444), « nouille » (#38,448). Parmi 1,563 lemmes en « N », « Nils » est au #38,446. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around Nils, aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #38,446 among 1,563 “N” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Prénom masculin scandinave, correspondant à Nicolas en français.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Nils, with forms such as "inls", "nills", and "nilss". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NS", "nos", "nul", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is Nils, spelled N-I-L-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prénom masculin scandinave, correspondant à Nicolas en français.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Nils Guyon, très performant en Catalogne comme lors de tous les tournois estivaux de 2021, est encore de la fête.
  2. Chez les 8-11 ans, les Locquirécois Brieuc et Noé sont arrivés en tête, et chez les 12-14 ans, Nils et Agathe ont remporté le concours.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • inls
  • nills
  • nilss
  • nisl
  • nlis
  • nnils

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Nils - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

inls2nills1nilss1nisl2nlis2nnils1
Edit distance from "Nils"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Nils"?
"Nils" is spelled N-I-L-S.
What does "Nils" mean?
As a proper noun, "Nils" means: Prénom masculin scandinave, correspondant à Nicolas en français.
What words are commonly confused with "Nils"?
"Nils" is commonly confused with "NS", "nos", "nul". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "Nils" come from?
"Nils" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

nerd#38,444miro#38,426poix#38,482loop#38,401

Similar misspelling depth

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

minas6 variantspater6 variantsrally6 variantsrays6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list