legtenvslettenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,746
“legten” frequency rank
#46,806
“letten” frequency rank
55552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Letter map: legten vs letten

Shared letters muted; letters that set legten and letten apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. legten 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
legten
6 ch
letten

Pair insight - legten / letten

legten 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 - g in “legten” becomes t in “letten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

legten is recorded at frequency rank #8,746, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːktn̩]. 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 55552, this pair ranks #975,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of legten vs letten

Shared letters: elnt. Private to "legten": g. Private to "letten": -.

"legten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "letten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legtenelgten · legetn · leggten · legtenn · legtne · legtten · letgen · lgeten
  • letteneltten · leten · letetn · lettenn · lettne · lletten · lteten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "legten" for "letten" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - g in “legten” 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: "legten" vs "letten" - which ranks higher?
"legten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,746 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "legten" 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 #975,155 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "legten" 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 #975,155 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