A multi-cylinder internal combustion engine includes a cylinder arrangement which is a VR cylinder arrangement having rows of cylinders which are arranged in an offset manner and nested into each other. The crank drive acts crosswise onto a crankshaft and a common cylinder head is provided. The inlet channels in the cylinder head are arranged in an identical manner for all of the cylinders. Alternatively, the inlet channels of the one row of cylinders are disposed adjacent to one of two or three camshafts and the inlet channels of the other row of cylinders are disposed on the other side of the camshaft.