lettervsletztemWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: letter is a noun, letztem is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#29,681
“letter” frequency rank
#19,291
“letztem” frequency rank
48972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature letter letztem
Definition Brief Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs letzte

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
letter
7 ch
letztem

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: letter is [letə(r)] while letztem is [ˈlɛt͡stəm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48972, 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)]. letztem is at rank #19,291, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəm].

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 48972, this pair ranks #1,228,737 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of letter vs letztem

Shared letters: elt. Private to "letter": r. Private to "letztem": mz.

"letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "letztem" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lettereltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lettre · lletter · lteter
  • letztemeltztem · lettzem · lettztem · letzetm · letztemm · letztme · letzttem · letzztem

Frequency comparison

letter#29,681
letztem#19,291

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "letter" and "letztem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "letter" is a noun and "letztem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "letter" or "letztem"?
"letztem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,291 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.

Remembering letter vs letztem

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “letter”; for an adjective, it's “letztem”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “letter” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list