längsvslängsteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#18,976
“längs” frequency rank
#11,926
“längste” frequency rank
30902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature längs längste
Definition in der Längsachse Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs lang

Where the eye mixes längs and längste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. längs runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against längste's 7 (CVCCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
längs
7 ch
längste

Look-alike desk: längs vs längste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: längs is [lɛŋs] while längste is [ˈlɛŋstə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “längs” sits inside “längste”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

längs is recorded at frequency rank #18,976, classified as anadv, pronounced [lɛŋs]. längste is at rank #11,926, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛŋstə].

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 30902, this pair ranks #1,738,835 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of längs vs längste

Shared letters: glnsä. Private to "längs": -. Private to "längste": et.

"längs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "längste" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "längs" for "längste" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "längs" is an adverb and "längste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "längs" or "längste"?
"längste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,926 in our German list, against #18,976 for "längs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "längs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "längste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,738,835 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "längs" and "längste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "längs vs largo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,738,835 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