LastvslegtTell them apart

Quick tell: Last is a noun, legt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Last” is a noun and “legt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,904
“Last” frequency rank
#1,604
“legt” frequency rank
4508
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Last legt
Definition etwas, was sich durch sein Gewicht nach unten drückt oder zieht; auch Ladung, Fracht; was man trägt 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs legen

Where the eye mixes Last and legt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Last
4 ch
legt

Why the eye confuses Last with legt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Last is [last] while legt is [leːkt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Last is recorded at frequency rank #2,904, classified as anoun, pronounced [last]. legt is at rank #1,604, tagged as averb, pronounced [leːkt].

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 4508, this pair ranks #1,997,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Last vs legt

Shared letters: lt. Private to "Last": as. Private to "legt": eg.

"Last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "legt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lastalst · lasst · lastt · lats · llast · lsat
  • legtelgt · leggt · legtt · letg · lget · llegt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Last" and "legt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Last" is a noun and "legt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Last" or "legt" show up more?
"legt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,604 in our German list, against #2,904 for "Last". 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 "Last" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "legt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Last" and "legt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lähmt vs Last". 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 #1,997,518 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