Hobbies in German | Free Vocabulary List

Common Hobbies in German

Let's start with the words for the most popular hobbies first. Many people would mention travelling, cooking or listening to music when asked about their hobbies.

Here is a list of German words for different hobbies:

kochen

to cook

fotografieren

to photograph

reisen

to travel

wandern

to hike

laufen

to run

klettern

to climb

faulenzen

to laze about

feiern gehen

to party

Musik hören

to listen to music

Sports

Let's have a look at the area of sports next: Many Germans enjoy doing sports as a past time activity. Popular sports here in Germany include football, handball, tennis, swimming, and cycling.

der Fußball

football

das Tennis

tennis

das Schwimmen

swimming

das Schlittschuhlaufen

ice skating

das Badminton

badminton

der Volleyball

volleyball

In case you're interested in seeing a few more words for all different kinds of sports, check out our full article on German sports vocabulary.

Not included in the above list are fitness activities, such as running (laufen), hiking (wandern), and gym workouts (im Fitnessstudio trainieren), which are also very popular hobbies in Germany.

Arts & Crafts

stricken

to knit

häkeln

to crochet

nähen

to sew

töpfern

to do pottery

malen

to paint

zeichnen

to draw

basteln

to do handicrafts

tanzen

to dance

schauspielen

to act

Collecting

If you are collecting something as a hobby, there are only a few words you will need to remember, most importantly die Sammlung:

die Sammlung

collection

das Briefmarkensammlung

stamp collection

Briefmarken sammeln

to collect stamps

Comcihefte sammeln

to collect comic books

Games

A lot of people love playing games as a hobby. Whether it's billard, ping pong or darts. Here are some common words for popular games:

das Billard

billard

das Dart / das Darts

darts

das Tischtennis

ping pong

der Kicker

table football

das Kartenspiel

card game