nicevsnisTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,962
“nice” frequency rank
#49,821
“nis” frequency rank
51783
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nice nis
Definition Qui est simple, candide, innocent. Participe actif présent du verbe ní (« se déplacer »).

Same sound, different letters: nice vs nis

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters. nice runs 4 letters (CVCV) against nis's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
nice
3 ch
nis

Same sound, different spelling - nice / nis

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: nice and nis carry the same recorded pronunciation, \nis\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51783, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nice is recorded at frequency rank #1,962, classified as anadj, pronounced \nis\. nis is at rank #49,821, tagged as averb, pronounced \nis\.

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 51783, this pair ranks #152,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nice vs nis

Shared letters: in. Private to "nice": ce. Private to "nis": s.

"nice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nice ← ince · ncie · nicce · niec · nnice

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nice" and "nis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nice" is an adjective and "nis" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nice" vs "nis" - which ranks higher?
"nice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,962 in our French list, against #49,821 for "nis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

"nice" and "nis" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nice" and "nis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nis vs nop". 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 #152,514 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list