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 eye mixes führe and führend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. führe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against führend's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
führe
7 ch
führend

Why the eye confuses führe with führend

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "führe" for "führend" ever safe?
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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "führe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "führend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,781,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "führe" and "führend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "führend vs führendes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,781,285 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list