Which to use
“lang” is an adjective and “längs” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #403
- “lang” frequency rank
- #18,976
- “längs” frequency rank
- 19379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lang | längs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | große Ausmaße, große räumliche Ausmaße habend; über große Ausmaße, große Ausdehnung verfügend | in der Längsachse |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lang and längs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
lang and längs form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lang is recorded at frequency rank #403, classified as anadj, pronounced [laŋ]. längs is at rank #18,976, tagged as anadv, pronounced [lɛŋs].
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 19379, this pair ranks #1,908,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lang" and "längs" be used interchangeably?
Remembering lang vs längs
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “lang”; for an adverb, it's “längs”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lang” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable