Which to use
“laufen” is a verb and “laufende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #765
- “laufen” frequency rank
- #8,240
- “laufende” frequency rank
- 9005
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laufen | laufende |
|---|---|---|
| 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“) | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs laufend |
Where the eye mixes laufen and laufende
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. laufen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against laufende's 8 (CVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laufen vs laufende
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laufen is [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩] while laufende is [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “laufen” sits inside “laufende”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laufen is recorded at frequency rank #765, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩]. laufende is at rank #8,240, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩də].
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 9005, this pair ranks #1,981,845 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laufen vs laufende
Shared letters: aeflnu. Private to "laufen": -. Private to "laufende": d.
"laufen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "laufende" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laufen" for "laufende" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "laufen" or "laufende" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laufen" and "laufende" 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 "laufende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,981,845 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laufen" and "laufende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laufende 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 #1,981,845 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.