langsamvslängsteConfusable pair

Which to use

“langsam” and “längste” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#751
“langsam” frequency rank
#11,926
“längste” frequency rank
12677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature langsam längste
Definition eine niedrige Geschwindigkeit aufweisend, lange Zeit benötigend Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Superlativs des Adjektivs lang

Where the eye mixes langsam and längste

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

7 ch
langsam
7 ch
längste

Visual trap between langsam and längste

A purely visual mix-up. langsam ([ˈlaŋzaːm]) and längste ([ˈlɛŋstə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

langsam is recorded at frequency rank #751, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaŋzaːm]. 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 12677, this pair ranks #1,962,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of langsam vs längste

Shared letters: glns. Private to "langsam": am. Private to "längste": etä.

"langsam" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "längste" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langsamalngsam · lagnsam · langasm · langgsam · langsamm · langsma · langssam · lanngsam

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "langsam" and "längste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaŋzaːm] versus [ˈlɛŋstə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "langsam" or "längste" show up more?
"langsam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #751 in our German list, against #11,926 for "längste". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "langsam" 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 #1,962,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "langsam" and "längste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "längste 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 #1,962,734 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