497

Law Offices

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP

1250 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20036

202.822.9611

Direct Dial - (202) 419-8416

1933 Act Rule 497(e)

1933 Act File No. 333-40455

1940 Act File No. 811-08495

April 11, 2014

VIA EDGAR

Filing Desk

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

100 F Street, NE

Washington, DC 20549

Re:	Nationwide Mutual Funds (the “Registrant”)
	SEC File Nos. 333-40455 and 811-08495
	Rule 497(e) filing

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Enclosed for filing pursuant to Rule 497(e) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “1933 Act”) are exhibits containing interactive data format risk/return summary information that reflects the risk/return summary information in the Prospectus dated March 26, 2013, relating to the Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund, Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund, Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund, Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund, each a series of the Registrant, as filed pursuant to Rule 497(e) under the 1933 Act on March 26, 2014 (Accession Number: 0001193125-14-116200).

Please direct questions or comments relating to this filing to me at the above-referenced telephone number.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Cillian M. Lynch

Cillian M. Lynch

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FUNDS
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Mar. 01, 2014
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS CONSERVATIVE FUND
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a conservative level of risk.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 39.16% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	39.16%
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	$ 50,000
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text]	rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent	”Other Expenses” has been restated to reflect current fees.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption, By Year, Caption [Text]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionByYearCaption	You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—stocks and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”) and a fixed interest contract issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company (“Nationwide Contract”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and may invest a significant portion of its assets in the Nationwide Contract or any one Underlying Fund. The Fund pursues its objective by seeking income and, secondarily, long-term growth of capital. Through investments in the Underlying Funds and the Nationwide Contract, the Fund invests heavily in fixed-income securities, such as bonds, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities, and a relatively small portion of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. companies. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 77% of its net assets in bonds, including the Nationwide Contract, and approximately 18% in stocks. The Fund is designed for investors who have a low tolerance for risk and whose primary goal is income, or who have a short time horizon.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of: Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in the Nationwide Contract, Nationwide Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the investment adviser, also earns fees. Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its results to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives. Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields. Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities risk – these securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk, and prepayment and call risk. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, mortgage-backed securities, will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements. The credit quality of most asset-backed securities depends primarily on the credit quality of the assets underlying such securities, how well the entity issuing the security is insulated from the credit risk of the originator or any other affiliated entities, and the amount and quality of any credit enhancement of the securities. Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down. Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares. Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position. Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions. Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return. If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]	rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus	Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Conservative Fund Composite Index) with the Conservative Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Conservative Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Conservative Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutual funds or by calling 800-848-0920.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year.
Performance Additional Market Index [Text]	rr_PerformanceAdditionalMarketIndex	The Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (40%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (35%), Russell 3000® Index (15%), Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (5%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (5%). The Former Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (45%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%) and the S&P 500® Index (20%).
Performance Availability Phone [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone	800-848-0920
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	nationwide.com/mutual funds
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares (Years Ended December 31,)
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter:      5.09% – 3rd qtr. of 2009 Worst Quarter:      -2.71% – 4th qtr. of 2008
Bar Chart, Returns for Class Not Offered in Prospectus [Text]	rr_BarChartReturnsForClassNotOfferedInProspectus	The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:
Performance Table Market Index Changed	rr_PerformanceTableMarketIndexChanged	As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Conservative Fund Composite Index) with the Conservative Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Conservative Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Conservative Fund Composite Index.
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns are shown in the table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes.
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	After-tax returns are shown in the table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans. The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses. The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.23%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.89%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	661
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	843
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,040
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,608
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	4.80%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	3.27%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	6.26%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	5.52%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(6.11%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	8.86%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	6.00%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	2.94%
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	5.32%
2013	rr_AnnualReturn2013	3.83%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Sep. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	5.09%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(2.71%)
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	(2.13%)
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.14%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.39%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Class C Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	1.00%
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.14%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.55%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	258
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	490
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	845
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,845
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	158
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	490
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	845
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,845
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	2.16%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.65%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.27%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Class R Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.50%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.25%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.16%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	118
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	368
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	638
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,409
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.58%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.01%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.72%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Institutional Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.10%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.51%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	52
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	164
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	285
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	640
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	4.24%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.69%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.30%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Dec. 29, 2004
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Institutional Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.23%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.64%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	65
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	205
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	357
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	798
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.82%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.27%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.90%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.25%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.91%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	93
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	290
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	504
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	$ 1,120
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.82%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.27%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.90%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | After Taxes on Distributions | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	(3.88%)
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	3.13%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	2.28%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	(0.20%)
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	3.03%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	2.39%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	(2.02%)
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.44%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.55%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	4.87%	[2]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.87%	[2]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.52%	[2]
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund | Former Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	5.25%	[3]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.30%	[3]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.02%	[3]

[1] "Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[2] The Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (40%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (35%), Russell 3000® Index (15%), Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (5%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (5%).

[3] The Former Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (45%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%) and the S&P 500® Index (20%).

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FUNDS
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Mar. 01, 2014
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS MODERATELY CONSERVATIVE FUND
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a moderately conservative level of risk.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 36.85% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	36.85%
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	$ 50,000
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text]	rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent	” Other Expenses” has been restated to reflect current fees.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption, By Year, Caption [Text]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionByYearCaption	You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—U.S. stocks, international stocks and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”) and a fixed interest contract issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company (“Nationwide Contract”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and may invest a significant portion of its assets in the Nationwide Contract or any one Underlying Fund. The Fund pursues its objective by seeking income and, secondarily, long-term growth of capital. Through investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund invests a majority of its assets in fixed-income securities, such as bonds, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities in order to generate investment income, but also a considerable portion of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. and international companies (including smaller companies) that the investment adviser believes offer opportunities for capital growth. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 59% of its net assets in bonds, including the Nationwide Contract, approximately 26% in U.S. stocks and approximately 11% in international stocks. The Fund is designed for investors who have a lower tolerance for risk and whose primary goal is income and secondary goal is growth. The Fund is also designed for investors who have a shorter time horizon or who are willing to accept some amount of market volatility in exchange for greater potential income and growth.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of: Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in the Nationwide Contract, Nationwide Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the investment adviser, also earns fees. Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its results to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives. Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields. Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities risk – these securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk, and prepayment and call risk. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, mortgage-backed securities, will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements. The credit quality of most asset-backed securities depends primarily on the credit quality of the assets underlying such securities, how well the entity issuing the security is insulated from the credit risk of the originator or any other affiliated entities, and the amount and quality of any credit enhancement of the securities. Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down. Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded. Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable then larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk. Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares. Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position. Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions. Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return. If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]	rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus	Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index) with the Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year.
Performance Additional Market Index [Text]	rr_PerformanceAdditionalMarketIndex	The Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (25%), Russell 3000® Index (30%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (10%). The Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%), the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (25%) and the S&P 500® Index (40%).
Performance Availability Phone [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone	800-848-0920
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	nationwide.com/mutualfunds
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares (Years Ended December 31,)
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter:     8.35% – 3rd qtr. of 2009 Worst Quarter:     -7.65% – 4th qtr. of 2008
Bar Chart, Returns for Class Not Offered in Prospectus [Text]	rr_BarChartReturnsForClassNotOfferedInProspectus	The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:
Performance Table Market Index Changed	rr_PerformanceTableMarketIndexChanged	As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index) with the Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index.
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes.
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans. The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses. The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.21%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.88%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	660
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	840
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,035
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,597
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	7.18%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	4.52%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	8.55%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	5.98%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(14.88%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	14.39%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	8.47%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	2.21%
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	8.15%
2013	rr_AnnualReturn2013	9.49%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Sep. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	8.35%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(7.65%)
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.21%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	7.21%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.50%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Class C Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	1.00%
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.13%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.55%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	258
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	490
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	845
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,845
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	158
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	490
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	845
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,845
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	7.69%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	7.73%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.38%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Class R Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.50%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.23%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.15%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	117
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	365
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	633
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,398
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.10%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	8.11%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.84%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Institutional Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.08%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.50%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	51
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	160
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	280
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	628
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.86%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	8.81%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.41%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Dec. 29, 2004
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Institutional Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.21%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.63%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	64
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	202
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	351
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	786
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.45%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	8.38%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.01%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.23%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.90%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	92
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	287
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	498
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	$ 1,108
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.45%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	8.38%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.01%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | After Taxes on Distributions | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	0.95%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	6.16%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.40%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.31%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	5.53%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	3.36%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	(2.02%)
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	4.44%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.55%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.60%	[2]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	8.79%	[2]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.42%	[2]
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund | Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	11.43%	[3]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	8.97%	[3]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.31%	[3]

[1] " Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[2] The Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (25%), Russell 3000® Index (30%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (10%).

[3] The Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%), the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (25%) and the S&P 500® Index (40%).

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FUNDS
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Mar. 01, 2014
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS MODERATELY AGGRESSIVE FUND
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a moderately aggressive level of risk.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 29.31% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	29.31%
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	$ 50,000
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text]	rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent	”Other Expenses” has been restated to reflect current fees.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption, By Year, Caption [Text]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionByYearCaption	You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—U.S. stocks, international stocks, and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds (including mortgage-backed securities) or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and may invest a significant portion of its assets in any one Underlying Fund. The Fund pursues its objective primarily by seeking growth of capital, as well as income. Through investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. and international companies, including smaller companies. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 51% of its net assets in U.S. stocks, approximately 25% in international stocks and approximately 19% in bonds. The Fund is designed for moderately aggressive investors who want to maximize returns over the long-term but who have a tolerance for possible short-term losses or who are looking for some additional diversification.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of: Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its result to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives. Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down. Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded. Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk. Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields. Mortgage-backed securities risk – mortgage-backed securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, mortgage-backed securities will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements. Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares. Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position. Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions. Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares issued by these Underlying Funds may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return. If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]	rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus	Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares issued by these Underlying Funds may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. The Adviser has replaced the S&P 500 Index with the Russell 3000 Index as the Fund’s primary benchmark because the Russell 3000 Index includes small- and mid-capitalization stocks in addition to large-capitalization stocks. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index) with the Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year.
Performance Additional Market Index [Text]	rr_PerformanceAdditionalMarketIndex	The Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Russell 3000® Index (55%), MSCI EAFE® Index (25%), Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (15%) and Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (5%). The Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the S&P 500® Index (80%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (15%), and the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (5%).
Performance Availability Phone [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone	800-848-0920
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	nationwide.com/mutualfunds
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares (Years Ended December 31,)
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter:     15.76% – 2nd qtr. of 2009 Worst Quarter:     -17.49% – 4th qtr. of 2008
Bar Chart, Returns for Class Not Offered in Prospectus [Text]	rr_BarChartReturnsForClassNotOfferedInProspectus	The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:
Performance Table Market Index Changed	rr_PerformanceTableMarketIndexChanged	The Adviser has replaced the S&P 500 Index with the Russell 3000 Index as the Fund’s primary benchmark because the Russell 3000 Index includes small- and mid-capitalization stocks in addition to large-capitalization stocks. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index) with the Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index.
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes.
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans. The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses. The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.18%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.86%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	658
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	834
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,024
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,575
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	12.22%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	7.15%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	14.56%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	6.33%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(31.23%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	24.56%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	12.88%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	(2.18%)
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	14.04%
2013	rr_AnnualReturn2013	21.75%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Jun. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	15.76%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(17.49%)
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	14.77%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	12.47%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.13%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Class C Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	1.00%
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.12%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.55%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	258
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	490
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	845
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,845
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	158
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	490
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	845
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,845
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	19.91%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	12.98%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.00%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Class R Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.50%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.21%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.14%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	116
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	362
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	628
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,386
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	21.23%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	13.39%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.44%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Institutional Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.06%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.49%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	50
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	157
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	274
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	616
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	22.15%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	14.13%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	7.02%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Dec. 29, 2004
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Institutional Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.18%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.61%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	62
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	195
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	340
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	762
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	21.68%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	13.68%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.64%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.21%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.89%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	91
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	284
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	493
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	$ 1,096
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	21.68%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	13.68%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.64%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | After Taxes on Distributions | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	13.66%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	11.84%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.33%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.12%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	9.99%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.86%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Russell 3000® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	33.55%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	18.71%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	7.88%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | S&P 500® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	32.39%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	17.94%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	7.41%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	22.43%	[2]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	13.52%	[2]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.44%	[2]
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund | Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	25.03%	[3]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	15.20%	[3]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.94%	[3]

[1] "Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[2] The Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Russell 3000® Index (55%), MSCI EAFE® Index (25%), Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (15%) and Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (5%).

[3] The Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the S&P 500® Index (80%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (15%), and the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (5%).

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Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund

FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS MODERATELY AGGRESSIVE FUND

Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a moderately aggressive level of risk.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.

Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund	Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	none	1.00%	none	none	none	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund		Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Management Fees		0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%	1.00%	0.50%	none	none	0.25%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.18%	0.12%	0.21%	0.06%	0.18%	0.21%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.86%	1.55%	1.14%	0.49%	0.61%	0.89%

Example

This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A shares	658	834	1,024	1,575
Class C shares	258	490	845	1,845
Class R shares	116	362	628	1,386
Institutional Class shares	50	157	274	616
Institutional Service Class shares	62	195	340	762
Service Class shares	91	284	493	1,096

You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund Class C shares	158	490	845	1,845

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 29.31% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—U.S. stocks, international stocks, and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds (including mortgage-backed securities) or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and may invest a significant portion of its assets in any one Underlying Fund.

The Fund pursues its objective primarily by seeking growth of capital, as well as income. Through investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. and international companies, including smaller companies. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 51% of its net assets in U.S. stocks, approximately 25% in international stocks and approximately 19% in bonds. The Fund is designed for moderately aggressive investors who want to maximize returns over the long-term but who have a tolerance for possible short-term losses or who are looking for some additional diversification.

Principal Risks

The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.

As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:

Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund.

Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its result to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down.

Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded.

Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk.

Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields.

Mortgage-backed securities risk – mortgage-backed securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, mortgage-backed securities will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements.

Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares.

Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position.

Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions.

Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares issued by these Underlying Funds may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.

If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.

Performance

The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. The Adviser has replaced the S&P 500 Index with the Russell 3000 Index as the Fund’s primary benchmark because the Russell 3000 Index includes small- and mid-capitalization stocks in addition to large-capitalization stocks. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index) with the Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.

Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares
(Years Ended December 31,)

Best Quarter:     15.76% – 2nd qtr. of 2009
Worst Quarter:     -17.49% – 4th qtr. of 2008

After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses.

The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.

Average Annual Total Returns
For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:

Average Annual Total Returns Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Aggressive Fund		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Inception Date
Class A shares		14.77%	12.47%	6.13%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions		13.66%	11.84%	5.33%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares		9.12%	9.99%	4.86%
Class C shares		19.91%	12.98%	6.00%
Class R shares		21.23%	13.39%	6.44%
Institutional Class shares		22.15%	14.13%	7.02%	Dec. 29, 2004
Institutional Service Class shares		21.68%	13.68%	6.64%
Service Class shares		21.68%	13.68%	6.64%
Russell 3000® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)		33.55%	18.71%	7.88%
S&P 500® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)		32.39%	17.94%	7.41%
Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[1]	22.43%	13.52%	6.44%
Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[2]	25.03%	15.20%	6.94%

[1] "Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[1] The Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Russell 3000® Index (55%), MSCI EAFE® Index (25%), Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (15%) and Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (5%).

[2] The Former Moderately Aggressive Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the S&P 500® Index (80%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (15%), and the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (5%).

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FUNDS
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Mar. 01, 2014
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS MODERATE FUND
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a moderate level of risk.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	Portfolio Turnover
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 32.04% of the average value of its portfolio.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	32.04%
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	$ 50,000
Expenses Restated to Reflect Current [Text]	rr_ExpensesRestatedToReflectCurrent	”Other Expenses” has been restated to reflect current fees.
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	Example
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption, By Year, Caption [Text]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionByYearCaption	You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategies
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—U.S. stocks, international stocks, and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”) and a fixed interest contract issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company (“Nationwide Contract”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and invests a significant portion of its assets in the Nationwide Contract or any one Underlying Fund. The Fund pursues its objective by seeking both growth of capital and income. Through investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund may invest a majority of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. and international companies (including smaller companies) that the investment adviser believes offer opportunities for capital growth, but also a considerable portion of its assets in bonds (including mortgage-backed securities) in order to generate investment income. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 38% of its net assets in U.S. stocks, approximately 19% in international stocks and approximately 37% in bonds, including the Nationwide Contract. The Fund is designed for investors who have a lower tolerance for risk than more aggressive investors and who are seeking both capital growth and income. The Fund is also designed for investors who have a longer time horizon and who are willing to accept moderate short-term price fluctuations in exchange for potential longer-term results.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Principal Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective. As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of: Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in the Nationwide Contract, Nationwide Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the investment adviser, also earns fees. Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its result to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives. Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down. Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded. Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk. Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields. Extension risk – when interest rates rise, certain bond obligations, such as mortgage-backed securities, will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Mortgage-backed securities risk – mortgage-backed securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk, prepayment and call risk and extension risk. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements. Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares. Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position. Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions. Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return. If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]	rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus	Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. The Adviser has replaced the S&P 500 Index with the Russell 3000 Index as the Fund’s primary benchmark because the Russell 3000 Index includes small- and mid-capitalization stocks in addition to large-capitalization stocks. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderate Fund Composite Index) with the Moderate Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderate Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderate Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year.
Performance Additional Market Index [Text]	rr_PerformanceAdditionalMarketIndex	The Moderate Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Russell 3000® Index (45%), Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (25%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (15%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (15%). The Former Moderate Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the S&P 500® Index (60%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (25%) and the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (15%).
Performance Availability Phone [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone	800-848-0920
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	nationwide.com/mutualfunds
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares (Years Ended December 31,)
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter:      11.60% – 2nd qtr. of 2009 Worst Quarter:      -12.61% – 4th qtr. of 2008
Bar Chart, Returns for Class Not Offered in Prospectus [Text]	rr_BarChartReturnsForClassNotOfferedInProspectus	The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:
Performance Table Market Index Changed	rr_PerformanceTableMarketIndexChanged	The Adviser has replaced the S&P 500 Index with the Russell 3000 Index as the Fund’s primary benchmark because the Russell 3000 Index includes small- and mid-capitalization stocks in addition to large-capitalization stocks. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderate Fund Composite Index) with the Moderate Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderate Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderate Fund Composite Index.
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes.
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans. The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses. The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.20%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.88%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	660
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	840
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,035
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,597
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	9.53%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	5.50%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	11.50%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	5.73%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(23.05%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	19.15%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	10.99%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	0.03%
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	11.02%
2013	rr_AnnualReturn2013	15.59%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Jun. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	11.60%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(12.61%)
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	8.94%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	9.87%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.31%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Class C Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	1.00%
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.13%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.56%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	259
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	493
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	850
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,856
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	159
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	493
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	850
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,856
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	13.81%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	10.40%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.17%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Class R Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.50%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.22%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.15%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	117
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	365
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	633
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,398
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.08%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	10.76%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.60%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Institutional Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.07%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.50%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	51
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	160
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	280
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	628
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.88%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	11.50%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.20%
Inception Date	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Dec. 29, 2004
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Institutional Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.20%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.63%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	64
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	202
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	351
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	786
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.54%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	11.05%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.81%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Service Class Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice	none
Management Fees	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other Expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.22%	[1]
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.90%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	92
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	287
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	498
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	$ 1,108
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.54%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	11.05%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.81%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | After Taxes on Distributions | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	7.58%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	9.17%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.37%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares | Class A Shares
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	5.92%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	7.75%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.10%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Russell 3000® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	33.55%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	18.71%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	7.88%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | S&P 500® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	32.39%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	17.94%
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	7.41%
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Moderate Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	16.72%	[2]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	11.42%	[2]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.08%	[2]
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund | Former Moderate Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	18.09%	[3]
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	12.12%	[3]
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.12%	[3]

[1] "Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[2] The Moderate Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Russell 3000® Index (45%), Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (25%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (15%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (15%).

[3] The Former Moderate Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the S&P 500® Index (60%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (25%) and the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (15%).

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Document Type	dei_DocumentType	Other
Document Period End Date	dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate	Oct. 31, 2013
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FUNDS
Central Index Key	dei_EntityCentralIndexKey	0001048702
Amendment Flag	dei_AmendmentFlag	false
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Mar. 26, 2014
Document Effective Date	dei_DocumentEffectiveDate	Mar. 26, 2014
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Mar. 01, 2014

XML

Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund

FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS MODERATELY CONSERVATIVE FUND

Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a moderately conservative level of risk.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.

Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund	Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	none	1.00%	none	none	none	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund		Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Management Fees		0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%	1.00%	0.50%	none	none	0.25%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.21%	0.13%	0.23%	0.08%	0.21%	0.23%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.29%	0.29%	0.29%	0.29%	0.29%	0.29%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.88%	1.55%	1.15%	0.50%	0.63%	0.90%

Example

This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A shares	660	840	1,035	1,597
Class C shares	258	490	845	1,845
Class R shares	117	365	633	1,398
Institutional Class shares	51	160	280	628
Institutional Service Class shares	64	202	351	786
Service Class shares	92	287	498	1,108

You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund Class C shares	158	490	845	1,845

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 36.85% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—U.S. stocks, international stocks and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”) and a fixed interest contract issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company (“Nationwide Contract”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and may invest a significant portion of its assets in the Nationwide Contract or any one Underlying Fund.

The Fund pursues its objective by seeking income and, secondarily, long-term growth of capital. Through investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund invests a majority of its assets in fixed-income securities, such as bonds, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities in order to generate investment income, but also a considerable portion of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. and international companies (including smaller companies) that the investment adviser believes offer opportunities for capital growth. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 59% of its net assets in bonds, including the Nationwide Contract, approximately 26% in U.S. stocks and approximately 11% in international stocks. The Fund is designed for investors who have a lower tolerance for risk and whose primary goal is income and secondary goal is growth. The Fund is also designed for investors who have a shorter time horizon or who are willing to accept some amount of market volatility in exchange for greater potential income and growth.

Principal Risks

The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.

As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:

Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in the Nationwide Contract, Nationwide Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the investment adviser, also earns fees.

Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its results to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields.

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities risk – these securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk, and prepayment and call risk. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, mortgage-backed securities, will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements. The credit quality of most asset-backed securities depends primarily on the credit quality of the assets underlying such securities, how well the entity issuing the security is insulated from the credit risk of the originator or any other affiliated entities, and the amount and quality of any credit enhancement of the securities.

Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down.

Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded.

Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable then larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk.

Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares.

Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position.

Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions.

Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.

If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.

Performance

The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index) with the Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.

Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares
(Years Ended December 31,)

Best Quarter:     8.35% – 3rd qtr. of 2009
Worst Quarter:     -7.65% – 4th qtr. of 2008

After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses.

The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.

Average Annual Total Returns
For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:

Average Annual Total Returns Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderately Conservative Fund		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Inception Date
Class A shares		3.21%	7.21%	4.50%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions		0.95%	6.16%	3.40%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares		3.31%	5.53%	3.36%
Class C shares		7.69%	7.73%	4.38%
Class R shares		9.10%	8.11%	4.84%
Institutional Class shares		9.86%	8.81%	5.41%	Dec. 29, 2004
Institutional Service Class shares		9.45%	8.38%	5.01%
Service Class shares		9.45%	8.38%	5.01%
Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)		(2.02%)	4.44%	4.55%
Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[1]	10.60%	8.79%	5.42%
Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[2]	11.43%	8.97%	5.31%

[1] " Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[1] The Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (25%), Russell 3000® Index (30%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (10%).

[2] The Former Moderately Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%), the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (25%) and the S&P 500® Index (40%).

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FUNDS
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Mar. 01, 2014
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Mar. 26, 2014

XML

Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund

FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS CONSERVATIVE FUND

Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a conservative level of risk.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.

Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund	Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	none	1.00%	none	none	none	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund		Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Management Fees		0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%	1.00%	0.50%	none	none	0.25%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.23%	0.14%	0.25%	0.10%	0.23%	0.25%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.28%	0.28%	0.28%	0.28%	0.28%	0.28%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.89%	1.55%	1.16%	0.51%	0.64%	0.91%

Example

This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A shares	661	843	1,040	1,608
Class C shares	258	490	845	1,845
Class R shares	118	368	638	1,409
Institutional Class shares	52	164	285	640
Institutional Service Class shares	65	205	357	798
Service Class shares	93	290	504	1,120

You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund Class C shares	158	490	845	1,845

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 39.16% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—stocks and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”) and a fixed interest contract issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company (“Nationwide Contract”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds.

Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and may invest a significant portion of its assets in the Nationwide Contract or any one Underlying Fund.

The Fund pursues its objective by seeking income and, secondarily, long-term growth of capital. Through investments in the Underlying Funds and the Nationwide Contract, the Fund invests heavily in fixed-income securities, such as bonds, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities, and a relatively small portion of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. companies. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 77% of its net assets in bonds, including the Nationwide Contract, and approximately 18% in stocks. The Fund is designed for investors who have a low tolerance for risk and whose primary goal is income, or who have a short time horizon.

Principal Risks

The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.

As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:

Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in the Nationwide Contract, Nationwide Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the investment adviser, also earns fees.

Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its results to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields.

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities risk – these securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk, and prepayment and call risk. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, mortgage-backed securities, will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements. The credit quality of most asset-backed securities depends primarily on the credit quality of the assets underlying such securities, how well the entity issuing the security is insulated from the credit risk of the originator or any other affiliated entities, and the amount and quality of any credit enhancement of the securities.

Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down.

Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares.

Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position.

Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions.

Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.

If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.

Performance

The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Conservative Fund Composite Index) with the Conservative Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Conservative Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Conservative Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutual funds or by calling 800-848-0920.

Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares
(Years Ended December 31,)

Best Quarter:      5.09% – 3rd qtr. of 2009
Worst Quarter:      -2.71% – 4th qtr. of 2008

After-tax returns are shown in the table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses.

The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.

Average Annual Total Returns
For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:

Average Annual Total Returns Nationwide Investor Destinations Conservative Fund		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Inception Date
Class A shares		(2.13%)	4.14%	3.39%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions		(3.88%)	3.13%	2.28%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares		(0.20%)	3.03%	2.39%
Class C shares		2.16%	4.65%	3.27%
Class R shares		3.58%	5.01%	3.72%
Institutional Class shares		4.24%	5.69%	4.30%	Dec. 29, 2004
Institutional Service Class Shares		3.82%	5.27%	3.90%
Service Class shares		3.82%	5.27%	3.90%
Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)		(2.02%)	4.44%	4.55%
Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[1]	4.87%	5.87%	4.52%
Former Conservative Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[2]	5.25%	5.30%	4.02%

[1] "Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[1] The Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (40%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (35%), Russell 3000® Index (15%), Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (5%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (5%).

[2] The Former Conservative Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (45%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (35%) and the S&P 500® Index (20%).

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Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund

FUND SUMMARY: NATIONWIDE INVESTOR DESTINATIONS MODERATE FUND

Objective

The Fund seeks to maximize total investment return for a moderate level of risk.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Nationwide Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 34 of this Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 75 of the Statement of Additional Information.

Shareholder Fees (paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund	Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	none	1.00%	none	none	none	none

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund		Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R Shares	Institutional Class Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares	Service Class Shares
Management Fees		0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%	0.13%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%	1.00%	0.50%	none	none	0.25%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.20%	0.13%	0.22%	0.07%	0.20%	0.22%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses		0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.88%	1.56%	1.15%	0.50%	0.63%	0.90%

Example

This Example is intended to help you to compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class A shares	660	840	1,035	1,597
Class C shares	259	493	850	1,856
Class R shares	117	365	633	1,398
Institutional Class shares	51	160	280	628
Institutional Service Class shares	64	202	351	786
Service Class shares	92	287	498	1,108

You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund Class C shares	159	493	850	1,856

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 32.04% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund is a “fund of funds” that invests primarily in affiliated mutual funds representing a variety of asset classes. The Fund aims to provide diversification across major asset classes—U.S. stocks, international stocks, and bonds—by investing primarily in mutual funds offered by Nationwide Mutual Funds (each, an “Underlying Fund” or collectively, “Underlying Funds”) and a fixed interest contract issued by Nationwide Life Insurance Company (“Nationwide Contract”). Each Underlying Fund invests directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities, as appropriate to its investment objective and strategies. Most Underlying Funds are “index” funds (or funds that use index replication strategies) that invest directly in equity securities, bonds or other securities with a goal of obtaining investment returns that closely track a benchmark securities index. Some of these Underlying Funds invest in futures, forwards and swaps, all of which are derivatives, with investment characteristics similar to those of securities included in the respective indexes in an attempt to synthetically replicate the performance of those indexes. The Fund also invests in certain Underlying Funds that are not index funds. Although the Fund seeks to provide diversification across major asset classes, the Fund is nondiversified as to issuers, which means that it holds securities issued by a small number of issuers (i.e., Underlying Funds), and invests a significant portion of its assets in the Nationwide Contract or any one Underlying Fund.

The Fund pursues its objective by seeking both growth of capital and income. Through investments in the Underlying Funds, the Fund may invest a majority of its assets in equity securities, such as common stocks of U.S. and international companies (including smaller companies) that the investment adviser believes offer opportunities for capital growth, but also a considerable portion of its assets in bonds (including mortgage-backed securities) in order to generate investment income. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund allocates approximately 38% of its net assets in U.S. stocks, approximately 19% in international stocks and approximately 37% in bonds, including the Nationwide Contract. The Fund is designed for investors who have a lower tolerance for risk than more aggressive investors and who are seeking both capital growth and income. The Fund is also designed for investors who have a longer time horizon and who are willing to accept moderate short-term price fluctuations in exchange for potential longer-term results.

Principal Risks

The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.

As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:

Fund-of-funds risk – there are certain risks associated with a structure whereby the Fund invests primarily in other mutual funds. These risks include that (1) the Fund will indirectly pay a proportional share of the fees and expenses of the Underlying Funds in which it invests; (2) the Fund’s investment performance is directly tied to the performance of the Underlying Funds in which it invests. If one or more Underlying Funds fails to meet its investment objective, the Fund’s performance could be negatively affected; (3) the Fund is subject to different levels and combinations of risk based on its actual allocation among the various asset classes and Underlying Funds. The potential impact of the risks related to an asset class depends on the size of the Fund’s investment allocation to it; (4) the investment adviser’s evaluations and allocation among asset classes and Underlying Funds may be incorrect; (5) the investment adviser may add or delete Underlying Funds, or alter the Fund’s asset allocation, at its discretion. Changes to the Fund’s Underlying Funds or allocation (or the lack thereof) could affect both the level of risk and the potential for gain or loss; and (6) in selecting the Underlying Funds in which the Fund invests, the investment adviser could be subject to a potential conflict of interest, because the investment adviser is also the investment adviser to most, if not all, of the Underlying Funds, and so the investment adviser may have an incentive to invest the Fund’s assets in affiliated Underlying Funds. In addition, the advisory fees paid to the investment adviser by the Underlying Funds typically are higher than the advisory fees paid by the Fund. To the extent that the Fund invests in the Nationwide Contract, Nationwide Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of the investment adviser, also earns fees.

Management risk – the Fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by its investment adviser, or by the investment advisers or subadvisers to the Underlying Funds, may not produce the desired results. This could cause the Fund to lose value or its result to lag those of relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Stock market risk – the Fund could lose value if the individual stocks in which the Underlying Funds invest or overall stock markets in which such stocks trade go down.

Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded.

Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk.

Fixed-income securities risk – investments in fixed-income securities, such as bonds or other investments with debt-like characteristics, subject the Fund to interest rate risk, credit risk and prepayment and call risk, which may affect the value of your investment. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-income securities will decline when interest rates rise. Prices of longer-term securities generally change more in response to interest rate changes than prices of shorter-term securities. To the extent a Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities, rising interest rates are more likely to cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline significantly. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a bond may be unable to pay interest or principal when due. If an issuer defaults, the Fund may lose money. Changes in a bond issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perceptions of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of a bond. Prepayment and call risk is the risk that certain fixed-income securities will be paid off by the issuer more quickly than anticipated. If this occurs, the Underlying Fund may be required to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields.

Extension risk – when interest rates rise, certain bond obligations, such as mortgage-backed securities, will be paid in full by the issuer more slowly than anticipated. This can cause the market value of the security to fall because the market may view its interest rate as low for a longer-term investment.

Mortgage-backed securities risk – mortgage-backed securities are generally subject to the same types of risk that apply to other fixed-income securities, such as interest rate risk, credit risk, prepayment and call risk and extension risk. Through its investments in mortgage-backed securities, an Underlying Fund may have some exposure to subprime loans, as well as to the mortgage and credit markets generally. Subprime loans, which are loans made to borrowers with weakened credit histories, generally have higher default rates than loans that meet government underwriting requirements.

Index fund risk – an Underlying Fund that seeks to match the performance of an index does not use defensive strategies or attempt to reduce its exposure to poor performing securities. Further, correlation between an Underlying Fund’s performance and that of the index may be negatively affected by the Underlying Fund’s expenses, changes in the composition of the index, and the timing of purchase and redemption of Underlying Fund shares.

Derivatives risk – derivatives may be volatile and may involve significant risks. The underlying security, commodity, measure or other instrument on which a derivative is based, or the derivative itself, may not perform as expected. Normally derivatives involve leverage, which means that their use can significantly magnify the effect of price movements of the underlying securities or reference measures, disproportionately increasing an Underlying Fund’s losses and reducing the Underlying Fund’s opportunities for gains. Some derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, including a loss that may be greater than the amount invested. They also present default risks if the counterparty to a derivatives contract fails to fulfill its obligations to the Underlying Fund. Certain derivatives held by an Underlying Fund may be illiquid, making it difficult to close out an unfavorable position.

Liquidity risk – when there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities or instruments, it can become more difficult to sell the securities or instruments at or near their perceived value. An inability to sell a portfolio position can adversely affect a Fund’s value or prevent the Fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk also includes the risk that the Fund will experience significant net redemptions of its shares at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss. To meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to sell other securities or instruments that are more liquid, but at an unfavorable time and conditions.

Nondiversified fund risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in the Underlying Funds or the Nationwide Contract, an increase or decrease in the value of the shares or interests issued by these investments may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return.

If the value of the Fund’s investments goes down, you may lose money.

Performance

The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. The table also compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to a hypothetical composite index, which is a representation of the performance of each Fund’s asset classes according to their respective weightings. The Adviser has replaced the S&P 500 Index with the Russell 3000 Index as the Fund’s primary benchmark because the Russell 3000 Index includes small- and mid-capitalization stocks in addition to large-capitalization stocks. As of March 1, 2014, the Fund replaced the hypothetical composite index (the Former Moderate Fund Composite Index) with the Moderate Fund Composite Index. The Adviser believes that the Moderate Fund Composite Index provides a more accurate representation of the Fund’s current asset weightings than the Former Moderate Fund Composite Index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.

Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares
(Years Ended December 31,)

Best Quarter:      11.60% – 2nd qtr. of 2009
Worst Quarter:      -12.61% – 4th qtr. of 2008

After-tax returns are shown in the following table for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-deferred arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The inception date for Institutional Class shares is December 29, 2004. Pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for these classes has been adjusted to reflect differences in sales charges between classes, but not differing expenses.

The Fund had not commenced offering Institutional Service Class shares as of the date of this Prospectus. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance for Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Service Class shares. Performance for Institutional Service Class shares has not been adjusted to reflect a lower level of expenses than those that apply to Service Class shares.

Average Annual Total Returns
For the Periods Ended December 31, 2013:

Average Annual Total Returns Nationwide Investor Destinations Moderate Fund		1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Inception Date
Class A shares		8.94%	9.87%	5.31%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions		7.58%	9.17%	4.37%
Class A shares After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares		5.92%	7.75%	4.10%
Class C shares		13.81%	10.40%	5.17%
Class R shares		15.08%	10.76%	5.60%
Institutional Class shares		15.88%	11.50%	6.20%	Dec. 29, 2004
Institutional Service Class shares		15.54%	11.05%	5.81%
Service Class shares		15.54%	11.05%	5.81%
Russell 3000® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)		33.55%	18.71%	7.88%
S&P 500® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)		32.39%	17.94%	7.41%
Moderate Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[1]	16.72%	11.42%	6.08%
Former Moderate Fund Composite Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	[2]	18.09%	12.12%	6.12%

[1] "Other Expenses" has been restated to reflect current fees. More information about administrative services fees can be found in "Investing with Nationwide Funds" on page 37 of this Prospectus.

[1] The Moderate Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of Russell 3000® Index (45%), Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (25%), Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Government/Credit Bond Index (15%) and MSCI EAFE® Index (15%).

[2] The Former Moderate Fund Composite Index is an unmanaged, hypothetical combination of the S&P 500® Index (60%), the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (25%) and the Citigroup 3-Month Treasury Bill (T-Bill) Index (15%).