lebtenvslettenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,863
“lebten” frequency rank
#46,806
“letten” frequency rank
52669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lebten letten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs leben Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs let

Letter map: lebten vs letten

Shared letters muted; letters that set lebten and letten apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. lebten and letten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
lebten
6 ch
letten

Corpus notes: lebten and letten

lebten and letten are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - b in “lebten” becomes t in “letten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lebten is recorded at frequency rank #5,863, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːptn̩]. letten is at rank #46,806, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 52669, this pair ranks #1,087,833 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lebten vs letten

Shared letters: elnt. Private to "lebten": b. Private to "letten": -.

"lebten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "letten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lebten ← elbten · lbeten · lebbten · lebetn · lebtenn · lebtne · lebtten · letben
  • letten ← eltten · leten · letetn · lettenn · lettne · lletten · lteten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lebten" and "letten" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - b in “lebten” becomes t in “letten”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "lebten" vs "letten" - which ranks higher?
"lebten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,863 in our German list, against #46,806 for "letten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lebten" and "letten".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lebten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "letten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,087,833 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lebten" and "letten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letten vs puzzles". 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 #1,087,833 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