letten vs letter, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#46,806
“letten” frequency rank: #29,681
“letter” frequency rank: 76487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	letten	letter
Definition	Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs let	Brief

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set letten and letter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

letten

6 ch

letter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: letten is averb and letteranoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - n in “letten” becomes r in “letter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

letten is recorded at frequency rank #46,806, classified as averb, pronounced […]. 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 76487, this pair ranks #282,750 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of letten vs letter

Shared letters: elt. Private to "letten": n. Private to "letter": r.

"letten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

letten ← eltten · leten · letetn · lettenn · lettne · lletten · lteten
letter ← eltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lettre · lletter · lteter

Frequency comparison

letten#46,806

letter#29,681

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "letten" and "letter" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "letten" is a verb and "letter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "letten" or "letter"?

"letter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,681 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.

Remembering letten vs letter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “letten”; for a noun, it's “letter”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “letten” entry
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