Which to use
“führen” is a verb and “führende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #634
- “führen” frequency rank
- #6,796
- “führende” frequency rank
- 7430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | führen | führende |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in eine Richtung geleiten, zum Beispiel, indem man nahe neben jemandem geht oder ihn sogar dabei berührt und ihm hilft einen Weg zu finden, den er sonst schwer hätte zu finden | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs führend |
Where the eye mixes führen and führende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. führen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against führende's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses führen with führende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: führen is [ˈfyːʁən] while führende is [ˈfyːʁəndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “führen” sits inside “führende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
führen is recorded at frequency rank #634, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfyːʁən]. führende is at rank #6,796, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfyːʁəndə].
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 7430, this pair ranks #1,988,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of führen vs führende
Shared letters: efhnrü. Private to "führen": -. Private to "führende": d.
"führen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "führende" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "führen" for "führende" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "führen" or "führende" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "führen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "führende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,988,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "führen" and "führende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "führende vs führendes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,988,182 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.