legtevsletterConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,977
“legte” frequency rank
#29,681
“letter” frequency rank
31658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature legte letter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs legen Brief

Where the eye mixes legte and letter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
legte
6 ch
letter

Look-alike desk: legte vs letter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: legte is [ˈleːktə] while letter is [letə(r)]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31658, 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]. letter is at rank #29,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced [letə(r)].

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 31658, this pair ranks #1,723,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of legte vs letter

Shared letters: elt. Private to "legte": g. Private to "letter": r.

"legte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legteelgte · leget · leggte · legtte · letge · lgete · llegte
  • lettereltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lettre · lletter · lteter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "legte" and "letter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "legte" is a verb and "letter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "legte" vs "letter" - which ranks higher?
"legte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,977 in our German list, against #29,681 for "letter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "legte" and "letter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "legte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "letter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,723,723 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legte" and "letter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letten vs letter". 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 #1,723,723 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