LetztervsletzteremTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,702
“Letzter” frequency rank
#16,769
“letzterem” frequency rank
18471
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Letzter letzterem
Definition in einer zeitlichen, räumlichen oder rangmäßigen Abfolge am Ende Stehender Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs letztere

Where the eye mixes Letzter and letzterem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Letzter
9 ch
letzterem

Visual trap between Letzter and letzterem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Letzter is [ˈlɛt͡stɐ] while letzterem is [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Letzter” sits inside “letzterem”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Letzter is recorded at frequency rank #1,702, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stɐ]. letzterem is at rank #16,769, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm].

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 18471, this pair ranks #1,917,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Letzter vs letzterem

Shared letters: elrtz. Private to "Letzter": -. Private to "letzterem": m.

"Letzter" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "letzterem" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Letztereltzter · lettzer · lettzter · letzetr · letzterr · letztre · letztter · letzzter
  • letzteremeltzterem · lettzerem · lettzterem · letzetrem · letzteerm · letzteremm · letzterme · letzterrem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Letzter" and "letzterem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Letzter" is a noun and "letzterem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Letzter" or "letzterem" show up more?
"Letzter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,702 in our German list, against #16,769 for "letzterem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Letzter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "letzterem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,917,896 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Letzter" and "letzterem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letten vs Letzter". 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 #1,917,896 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