längst vs Last, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#1,520
“längst” frequency rank: #2,904
“Last” frequency rank: 4424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	längst	Last
Definition	schon lange, seit langem, seit langer/längerer Zeit	etwas, was sich durch sein Gewicht nach unten drückt oder zieht; auch Ladung, Fracht; was man trägt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set längst and Last apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

längst

4 ch

Last

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: längst is [lɛŋst] while Last is [last]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

längst is recorded at frequency rank #1,520, classified as anadv, pronounced [lɛŋst]. Last is at rank #2,904, tagged as anoun, pronounced [last].

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 4424, this pair ranks #1,997,756 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of längst vs Last

Shared letters: lst. Private to "längst": gnä. Private to "Last": a.

"längst" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC · "Last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

Last ← alst · lasst · lastt · lats · llast · lsat

Frequency comparison

längst#1,520

Last#2,904

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "längst" and "Last" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "längst" is an adverb and "Last" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "längst" or "Last"?

"längst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,520 in our German list, against #2,904 for "Last". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering längst vs Last

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “längst”; for a noun, it's “Last”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “längst” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable