langvslangtTell them apart

Quick tell: lang is a adjective, langt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#403
“lang” frequency rank
#33,695
“langt” frequency rank
34098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lang langt
Definition große Ausmaße, große räumliche Ausmaße habend; über große Ausmaße, große Ausdehnung verfügend 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs langen

Where the eye mixes lang and langt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lang
5 ch
langt

Visual trap between lang and langt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lang is [laŋ] while langt is [laŋt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “lang” sits inside “langt”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lang is recorded at frequency rank #403, classified as anadj, pronounced [laŋ]. langt is at rank #33,695, tagged as averb, pronounced [laŋt].

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 34098, this pair ranks #1,671,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lang vs langt

Shared letters: agln. Private to "lang": -. Private to "langt": t.

"lang" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "langt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langalng · lagn · langg · lanng · llang · lnag
  • langtalngt · lagnt · langgt · langtt · lanngt · lantg · llangt · lnagt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lang" for "langt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lang" is an adjective and "langt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lang" vs "langt" - which ranks higher?
"lang" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #403 in our German list, against #33,695 for "langt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "langt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,671,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lang" and "langt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs langt". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,671,041 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