laufendvslaufenderTell them apart

Which to use

“laufend” and “laufender” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,528
“laufend” frequency rank
#22,414
“laufender” frequency rank
34942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laufend laufender
Definition im Gange seiend, aktuell Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs laufend

Where the eye mixes laufend and laufender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. laufend runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against laufender's 9 (CVVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
laufend
9 ch
laufender

Why the eye confuses laufend with laufender

A purely visual mix-up. laufend ([ˈlaʊ̯fn̩t]) and laufender ([ˈlaʊ̯fn̩dɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “laufend” sits inside “laufender”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laufend is recorded at frequency rank #12,528, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩t]. laufender is at rank #22,414, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩dɐ].

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 34942, this pair ranks #1,651,719 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of laufend vs laufender

Shared letters: adeflnu. Private to "laufend": -. Private to "laufender": r.

"laufend" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "laufender" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laufend ← alufend · lafuend · lauefnd · laufedn · laufendd · laufennd · lauffend · laufned
  • laufender ← alufender · lafuender · lauefnder · laufedner · laufendder · laufenderr · laufendre · laufenedr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "laufend" and "laufender" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaʊ̯fn̩t] versus [ˈlaʊ̯fn̩dɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "laufend" or "laufender" show up more?
"laufend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,528 in our German list, against #22,414 for "laufender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laufend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laufender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,651,719 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laufend" and "laufender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laufender 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 #1,651,719 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