lettervsLetzterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,681
“letter” frequency rank
#1,702
“Letzter” frequency rank
31383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature letter Letzter
Definition Brief in einer zeitlichen, räumlichen oder rangmäßigen Abfolge am Ende Stehender

Where the eye mixes letter and Letzter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. letter runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Letzter's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
letter
7 ch
Letzter

Visual trap between letter and Letzter

A purely visual mix-up. letter ([letə(r)]) and Letzter ([ˈlɛt͡stɐ]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31383, 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)]. Letzter is at rank #1,702, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stɐ].

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 31383, this pair ranks #1,729,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of letter vs Letzter

Shared letters: elrt. Private to "letter": -. Private to "Letzter": z.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • letter ← eltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lettre · lletter · lteter
  • Letzter ← eltzter · lettzer · lettzter · letzetr · letzterr · letztre · letztter · letzzter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "letter" and "Letzter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([letə(r)] versus [ˈlɛt͡stɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "letter" or "Letzter"?
"Letzter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,702 in our German list, against #29,681 for "letter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "Letzter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,729,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "letter" and "Letzter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letten vs letter". 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 #1,729,243 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