Which to use
“laufen” is a verb and “Läufern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #765
- “laufen” frequency rank
- #47,574
- “Läufern” frequency rank
- 48339
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laufen | Läufern |
|---|---|---|
| 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“) | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Läufer |
Where the eye mixes laufen and Läufern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laufen runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against Läufern's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between laufen and Läufern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laufen is [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩] while Läufern is [ˈlɔɪ̯fɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laufen is recorded at frequency rank #765, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩]. Läufern is at rank #47,574, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔɪ̯fɐn].
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 48339, this pair ranks #1,252,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laufen vs Läufern
Shared letters: eflnu. Private to "laufen": a. Private to "Läufern": rä.
"laufen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "Läufern" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laufen ← alufen · lafuen · lauefn · laufenn · lauffen · laufne · llaufen · luafen
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laufen" and "Läufern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "laufen" or "Läufern" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laufen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Läufern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,252,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laufen" and "Läufern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lasern vs Läufern". 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 #1,252,155 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.