Which to use
“laufen” is a verb and “Launen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #765
- “laufen” frequency rank
- #39,499
- “Launen” frequency rank
- 40264
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laufen | Launen |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Plural des Substantivs Laune |
Where the eye mixes laufen and Launen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laufen and Launen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between laufen and Launen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laufen is [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩] while Launen is [ˈlaʊ̯nən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - f in “laufen” becomes n in “Launen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laufen is recorded at frequency rank #765, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩]. Launen is at rank #39,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯nən].
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 40264, this pair ranks #1,513,476 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laufen vs Launen
Shared letters: aelnu. Private to "laufen": f. Private to "Launen": -.
"laufen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "Launen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laufen" and "Launen" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "laufen" vs "Launen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
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 "Launen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,513,476 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laufen" and "Launen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Läufern vs Launen". 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 #1,513,476 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.