Which to use
“Länge” is a noun and “längst” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,930
- “Länge” frequency rank
- #1,520
- “längst” frequency rank
- 3450
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Länge | längst |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine horizontale Ausdehnung, Dimension | schon lange, seit langem, seit langer/längerer Zeit |
Where the eye mixes Länge and längst
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Länge runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against längst's 6 (CVCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: Länge vs längst
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Länge is [ˈlɛŋə] while längst is [lɛŋst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Länge is recorded at frequency rank #1,930, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛŋə]. längst is at rank #1,520, tagged as anadv, pronounced [lɛŋst].
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 3450, this pair ranks #2,000,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Länge vs längst
Shared letters: glnä. Private to "Länge": e. Private to "längst": st.
"Länge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "längst" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Länge" for "längst" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Länge" or "längst"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Länge" and "längst" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Länge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "längst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,000,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Länge" and "längst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Länge". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #2,000,193 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.