LenkervsletterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,479
“Lenker” frequency rank
#29,681
“letter” frequency rank
46160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lenker letter
Definition Einrichtung zum Steuern eines Fahrzeuges Brief

Where the eye mixes Lenker and letter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Lenker and letter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Lenker
6 ch
letter

Visual trap between Lenker and letter

A purely visual mix-up. Lenker ([ˈlɛŋkɐ]) and letter ([letə(r)]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lenker is recorded at frequency rank #16,479, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛŋkɐ]. 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 46160, this pair ranks #1,328,543 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lenker vs letter

Shared letters: elr. Private to "Lenker": kn. Private to "letter": t.

"Lenker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lenker ← elnker · lekner · lenekr · lenkerr · lenkker · lenkre · lennker · llenker
  • letter ← eltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lettre · lletter · lteter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lenker" for "letter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛŋkɐ] versus [letə(r)]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Lenker" vs "letter" - which ranks higher?
"Lenker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,479 in our German list, against #29,681 for "letter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lenker" 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 #1,328,543 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lenker" 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 #1,328,543 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