Which to use
“legal” is an adjective and “legte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,446
- “legal” frequency rank
- #1,977
- “legte” frequency rank
- 8423
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | legal | legte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Legalität betreffend; vom Gesetz erlaubt, dem Gesetze entsprechend | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs legen |
Where the eye mixes legal and legte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. legal (CVCVC) and legte (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: legal vs legte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legal is [leˈɡaːl] while legte is [ˈleːktə]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
legal is recorded at frequency rank #6,446, classified as anadj, pronounced [leˈɡaːl]. legte is at rank #1,977, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈleːktə].
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 8423, this pair ranks #1,984,351 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of legal vs legte
Shared letters: egl. Private to "legal": a. Private to "legte": t.
"legal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "legte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "legal" and "legte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "legal" vs "legte" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "legal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "legte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,984,351 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "legal" and "legte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "legal vs leger". 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 #1,984,351 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.