führendvsFührungWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: führend is a adjective, Führung is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#21,975
“führend” frequency rank
#1,593
“Führung” frequency rank
23568
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature führend Führung
Definition das Geschehen bestimmend die Handlung, der Prozess oder die Tätigkeit, ein bewegliches Objekt oder eine Person/Personengruppe zu steuern, in eine Richtung oder ein Verhalten zu weisen oder zu führen

Where the eye mixes führend and Führung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
führend
7 ch
Führung

Why the eye confuses führend with Führung

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: führend is [ˈfyːʁənt] while Führung is [ˈfyːʁʊŋ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

führend is recorded at frequency rank #21,975, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfyːʁənt]. Führung is at rank #1,593, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfyːʁʊŋ].

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 23568, this pair ranks #1,859,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of führend vs Führung

Shared letters: fhnrü. Private to "führend": de. Private to "Führung": gu.

"führend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "Führung" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "führend" and "Führung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "führend" is an adjective and "Führung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "führend" or "Führung"?
"Führung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,593 in our German list, against #21,975 for "führend". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "führend" and "Führung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "führend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Führung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,859,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "führend" and "Führung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "führend vs führendes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,859,556 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