Nouns and verbs which share the same form

Question

Beside "leben" - to live and "Leben" - life, are there other nouns which have the same form as their verbs?

Answer 1

While Erik is completely right, I don't think that you refer to the gerund. We have to differ between living (what Erik's answer is about), and life, lifetime or existence (what your question is about).

There are a couple of words which have a further meaning than just the action of doing something.

• essen (to eat) - Essen (food, meal) _{(Note: Also a German town)}
• springen (to jump) - Springen (in sports, e.g. "Skispringen" (ski-jumping))
• lachen (to laugh) - Lachen (laugh, laughter _{(the sound)})
• braten (to fry, to barbecue, to roast) - Braten (roast _(meat))
• wagen (to risk, to dare) - Wagen (car, wagon, trolley _{(Einkaufswagen)})
• leiden (to suffer) - Leiden (complaint _(illness), sickness, disease) _{(also distress (situation) and affliction (pain))}
• fangen (to catch) - Fangen (tag _{(children's game)})
• streichen (to paint) - Streichen (gait fault of a horse)
• regen (to stir) - Regen (rain)
• wissen (to know) - Wissen (knowledge)
• trinken (to drink) - Trinken (drink) _{(Note: Getränk is more common)}
• kommen (to come) - Kommen (arrival)
• leben (to live) - Leben (life, lifetime)

If someone knows a word that is missing yet, please feel free to add or place them in the comments.

Answer 2

You can turn most verbs into a noun without changing the form. In general, this has the same effect as creating a verb's gerund in English:

geben -- to give : das Geben -- giving
fliegen -- to fly : das Fliegen -- flying
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