Which to use
“letter” and “Lettern” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,681
- “letter” frequency rank
- #35,889
- “Lettern” frequency rank
- 65570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | letter | Lettern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Brief | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Letter |
Where the eye mixes letter and Lettern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between letter and Lettern
A purely visual mix-up. letter ([letə(r)]) and Lettern ([ˈlɛtɐn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “letter” sits inside “Lettern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
letter is recorded at frequency rank #29,681, classified as anoun, pronounced [letə(r)]. Lettern is at rank #35,889, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛtɐn].
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 65570, this pair ranks #602,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of letter vs Lettern
Shared letters: elrt. Private to "letter": -. Private to "Lettern": n.
"letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Lettern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "letter" and "Lettern" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "letter" or "Lettern" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "letter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lettern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #602,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "letter" and "Lettern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letten vs Lettern". 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 #602,268 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.