längstenvslängstensWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#12,123
“längsten” frequency rank
#49,061
“längstens” frequency rank
61184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature längsten längstens
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Superlativs des Adjektivs lang nicht länger/später als

Where the eye mixes längsten and längstens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
längsten
9 ch
längstens

Look-alike desk: längsten vs längstens

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: längsten is [ˈlɛŋstn̩] while längstens is [ˈlɛŋstn̩s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “längsten” sits inside “längstens”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

längsten is recorded at frequency rank #12,123, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛŋstn̩]. längstens is at rank #49,061, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈlɛŋstn̩s].

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 61184, this pair ranks #759,201 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of längsten vs längstens

Shared letters: eglnstä. Private to "längsten": -. Private to "längstens": -.

"längsten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC  ·  "längstens" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "längsten" and "längstens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "längsten" is an adjective and "längstens" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "längsten" or "längstens"?
"längsten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,123 in our German list, against #49,061 for "längstens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "längsten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "längstens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #759,201 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "längsten" and "längstens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "längste vs längstens". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #759,201 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