Which to use
“laufen” is a verb and “laufend” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #765
- “laufen” frequency rank
- #12,528
- “laufend” frequency rank
- 13293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laufen | laufend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich auf den Beinen oder Gliedmaßen fortbewegen; regional verschieden hat dieses Verb die Grundbedeutung „schnell gehen“ oder mit „mäßiger Geschwindigkeit gehen“, aber es wird überregional für mäßiges (bzw. langsames) Gehen in dem Ausdruck „das Kind läuft schon“ benutzt und wird in entsprechendem Kontext auch in solchen Regionen als mäßiges Gehen verstanden, wo üblicherweise „gehen“ statt „laufen“ benutzt wird (z.B. „nach Hause laufen“, süddeutsch und österreichisch „nach Hause gehen“) | im Gange seiend, aktuell |
Where the eye mixes laufen and laufend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. laufen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against laufend's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laufen with laufend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laufen is [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩] while laufend is [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “laufen” sits inside “laufend”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laufen is recorded at frequency rank #765, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩]. laufend is at rank #12,528, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩t].
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 13293, this pair ranks #1,958,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laufen vs laufend
Shared letters: aeflnu. Private to "laufen": -. Private to "laufend": d.
"laufen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "laufend" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laufen" and "laufend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "laufen" or "laufend"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laufen" and "laufend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laufen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laufend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,958,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laufen" and "laufend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laufend vs laufendes". 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 #1,958,900 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.