führevsführendWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: führe is a verb, führend is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,659
“führe” frequency rank
#21,975
“führend” frequency rank
28634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature führe führend
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs führen das Geschehen bestimmend

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set führe and führend apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
führe
7 ch
führend

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: führe is [ˈfyːʁə] while führend is [ˈfyːʁənt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “führe” sits inside “führend”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

führe is recorded at frequency rank #6,659, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːʁə]. führend is at rank #21,975, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfyːʁənt].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 28634, this pair ranks #1,781,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of führe vs führend

Shared letters: efhrü. Private to "führe": -. Private to "führend": dn.

"führe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "führend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequency comparison

führe#6,659
führend#21,975

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "führe" and "führend" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "führe" is a verb and "führend" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "führe" or "führend"?
"führe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,659 in our German list, against #21,975 for "führend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering führe vs führend

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “führe”; for an adjective, it's “führend”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “führe” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list