langesvslängstWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: langes is a adjective, längst is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“langes” is an adjective and “längst” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,500
“langes” frequency rank
#1,520
“längst” frequency rank
9020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature langes längst
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs lang schon lange, seit langem, seit langer/längerer Zeit

Where the eye mixes langes and längst

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

6 ch
langes
6 ch
längst

Look-alike desk: langes vs längst

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: langes is [ˈlaŋəs] while längst is [lɛŋst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

langes is recorded at frequency rank #7,500, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaŋəs]. 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 9020, this pair ranks #1,981,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of langes vs längst

Shared letters: glns. Private to "langes": ae. Private to "längst": .

"langes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "längst" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langesalnges · lagnes · lanegs · langess · langges · langse · lannges · llanges

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "langes" and "längst" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "langes" is an adjective and "längst" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "langes" or "längst"?
"längst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,520 in our German list, against #7,500 for "langes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "langes" 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 #1,981,786 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "langes" and "längst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lands vs langes". 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 #1,981,786 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