legtevsletsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,977
“legte” frequency rank
#18,317
“lets” frequency rank
20294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legte lets
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs legen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs let

Letter map: legte vs lets

Shared letters muted; letters that set legte and lets apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
legte
4 ch
lets

Pair insight - legte / lets

legte and lets 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legte is recorded at frequency rank #1,977, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːktə]. lets is at rank #18,317, 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 20294, this pair ranks #1,899,253 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of legte vs lets

Shared letters: elt. Private to "legte": g. Private to "lets": s.

"legte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "lets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legteelgte · leget · leggte · legtte · letge · lgete · llegte
  • letselts · letss · letts · llets · ltes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "legte" for "lets" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "legte" vs "lets" - which ranks higher?
"legte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,977 in our German list, against #18,317 for "lets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "legte" and "lets". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,899,253 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legte" and "lets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lets 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 #1,899,253 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