Which to use
“ne” is a particle and “next” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30
- “ne” frequency rank
- #11,261
- “next” frequency rank
- 11291
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ne | next |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Négation. Première partie d’un morphème en général à double forme encadrant le verbe et certains pronoms. Parfois appelé discordantiel, ne est complété d’un forclusif : pas, plus, jamais, point, personne, rien, aucun, nul, etc., ou de formules archaïsantes : goutte, mie, mais (n’en pouvoir mais). | Prochain. |
Where the eye mixes ne and next
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ne vs next
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ne is \nə\ while next is \nɛkst\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ne” sits inside “next”, and the parts of speech differ too (particle vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11291, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ne is recorded at frequency rank #30, classified as aparticle, pronounced \nə\. next is at rank #11,261, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nɛkst\.
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 11291, this pair ranks #409,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ne vs next
Shared letters: en. Private to "ne": -. Private to "next": tx.
"ne" · 2 letters · shape CV · "next" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- next ← enxt · netx · nextt · nexxt · nnext · nxet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ne" for "next" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ne" or "next"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "next" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,701 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ne" and "next" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neue vs next". 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 #409,701 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.