lenzenvslettenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,051
“lenzen” frequency rank
#46,806
“letten” frequency rank
95857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lenzen letten
Definition Wasser aus einem Boots- oder Schiffskörper entfernen Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs let

Letter map: lenzen vs letten

Shared letters muted; letters that set lenzen and letten apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. lenzen 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
lenzen
6 ch
letten

Pair insight - lenzen / letten

lenzen 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 95857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lenzen is recorded at frequency rank #49,051, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlɛnt͡sn̩]. 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 95857, this pair ranks #9,722 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lenzen vs letten

Shared letters: eln. Private to "lenzen": z. Private to "letten": t.

"lenzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "letten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lenzen ← elnzen · lenezn · lennzen · lenzenn · lenzne · lenzzen · leznen · llenzen
  • letten ← eltten · leten · letetn · lettenn · lettne · lletten · lteten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lenzen" for "letten" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "lenzen" vs "letten" - which ranks higher?
"letten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,806 in our German list, against #49,051 for "lenzen". 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 "lenzen" and "letten".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lenzen" 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 #9,722 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lenzen" 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 #9,722 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