langenvslängstenTell them apart

Quick tell: langen is a verb, längsten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,204
“langen” frequency rank
#12,123
“längsten” frequency rank
13327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature langen längsten
Definition sich einem Gegenstand entgegen strecken, um ihn zu ergreifen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Superlativs des Adjektivs lang

Where the eye mixes langen and längsten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. langen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against längsten's 8 (CVCCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
langen
8 ch
längsten

Visual trap between langen and längsten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: langen is [ˈlaŋən] while längsten is [ˈlɛŋstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

langen is recorded at frequency rank #1,204, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaŋən]. längsten is at rank #12,123, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛŋstn̩].

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 13327, this pair ranks #1,958,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of langen vs längsten

Shared letters: egln. Private to "langen": a. Private to "längsten": stä.

"langen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "längsten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langen ← alngen · lagnen · lanegn · langenn · langgen · langne · lanngen · llangen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "langen" for "längsten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "langen" is a verb and "längsten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "langen" or "längsten"?
"langen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,204 in our German list, against #12,123 for "längsten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "langen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "längsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,691 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "langen" and "längsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "längsten vs längstens". 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 #1,958,691 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