Which to use
“lesen” and “letten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #506
- “lesen” frequency rank
- #46,806
- “letten” frequency rank
- 47312
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lesen | letten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Schriftzeichen, Worte und Texte (mithilfe der Augen) wahrnehmen sowie (im Gehirn) verarbeiten und verstehen, sowie dies gegebenenfalls laut vorlesen | Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs let |
Letter map: lesen vs letten
Shared letters muted; letters that set lesen and letten apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Spelling & dictionary notes on lesen vs letten
lesen 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lesen is recorded at frequency rank #506, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈleːzn̩]. 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 47312, this pair ranks #1,288,759 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lesen vs letten
Shared letters: eln. Private to "lesen": s. Private to "letten": t.
"lesen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "letten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lesen" for "letten" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lesen" vs "letten" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lesen" and "letten".
- Full dictionary entry for "lesen" 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 #1,288,759 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lesen" 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 #1,288,759 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.