langenvsLaunenTell them apart

Quick tell: langen is a verb, Launen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,204
“langen” frequency rank
#39,499
“Launen” frequency rank
40703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature langen Launen
Definition sich einem Gegenstand entgegen strecken, um ihn zu ergreifen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Laune

Where the eye mixes langen and Launen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. langen (CVCCVC) and Launen (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
langen
6 ch
Launen

Visual trap between langen and Launen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: langen is [ˈlaŋən] while Launen is [ˈlaʊ̯nən]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40703, 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]. Launen is at rank #39,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯nən].

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 40703, this pair ranks #1,500,887 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of langen vs Launen

Shared letters: aeln. Private to "langen": g. Private to "Launen": u.

"langen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Launen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langen ← alngen · lagnen · lanegn · langenn · langgen · langne · lanngen · llangen
  • Launen ← alunen · lanuen · lauenn · launenn · launnen · llaunen · luanen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "langen" and "Launen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "langen" is a verb and "Launen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "langen" or "Launen" show up more?
"langen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,204 in our German list, against #39,499 for "Launen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "langen" and "Launen" 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 "Launen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,500,887 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "langen" and "Launen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Läufern vs Launen". 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 #1,500,887 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