letzterevsletzteresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,216
“letztere” frequency rank
#5,733
“letzteres” frequency rank
11949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature letztere letzteres
Definition von zweien oder mehreren zuletzt genannt Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs letztere

Where the eye mixes letztere and letzteres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. letztere runs 8 letters (CVCCCVCV) against letzteres's 9 (CVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
letztere
9 ch
letzteres

Look-alike desk: letztere vs letzteres

A purely visual mix-up. letztere ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁə]) and letzteres ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁəs]) 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) - “letztere” sits inside “letzteres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

letztere is recorded at frequency rank #6,216, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəʁə]. letzteres is at rank #5,733, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəs].

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 11949, this pair ranks #1,967,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of letztere vs letzteres

Shared letters: elrtz. Private to "letztere": -. Private to "letzteres": s.

"letztere" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV  ·  "letzteres" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • letztere ← eltztere · lettzere · lettztere · letzetre · letzteer · letzterre · letztree · letzttere
  • letzteres ← eltzteres · lettzeres · lettzteres · letzetres · letzteers · letzteress · letzterres · letzterse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "letztere" and "letzteres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁə] versus [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "letztere" or "letzteres"?
"letzteres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,733 in our German list, against #6,216 for "letztere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "letztere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "letzteres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,967,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "letztere" and "letzteres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letters vs letztere". 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 #1,967,050 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