Which to use
“letter” and “Lüfter” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,681
- “letter” frequency rank
- #29,231
- “Lüfter” frequency rank
- 58912
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | letter | Lüfter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Brief | Ventilator zur Erzeugung eines Luftstroms zur Kühlung oder Entlüftung von Räumen oder Geräten |
Where the eye mixes letter and Lüfter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses letter with Lüfter
A purely visual mix-up. letter ([letə(r)]) and Lüfter ([ˈlʏftɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58912, 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)]. Lüfter is at rank #29,231, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlʏftɐ].
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 58912, this pair ranks #844,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of letter vs Lüfter
Shared letters: elrt. Private to "letter": -. Private to "Lüfter": fü.
"letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Lüfter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- letter ← eltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lettre · lletter · lteter
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "letter" for "Lüfter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "letter" vs "Lüfter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "letter" and "Lüfter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "letter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Lüfter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #844,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "letter" and "Lüfter" 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 #844,578 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.