letzteremvsletztererWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,769
“letzterem” frequency rank
#10,515
“letzterer” frequency rank
27284
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature letzterem letzterer
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs letztere Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs letztere

Where the eye mixes letzterem and letzterer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. letzterem and letzterer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
letzterem
9 ch
letzterer

Visual trap between letzterem and letzterer

A purely visual mix-up. letzterem ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm]) and letzterer ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁɐ]) 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 a single letter - m in “letzterem” becomes r in “letzterer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

letzterem is recorded at frequency rank #16,769, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm]. letzterer is at rank #10,515, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəʁɐ].

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 27284, this pair ranks #1,804,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of letzterem vs letzterer

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

"letzterem" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "letzterer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • letzterem ← eltzterem · lettzerem · lettzterem · letzetrem · letzteerm · letzteremm · letzterme · letzterrem
  • letzterer ← eltzterer · lettzerer · lettzterer · letzetrer · letzteerr · letztererr · letzterrer · letztreer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "letzterem" and "letzterer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm] versus [ˈlɛt͡stəʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "letzterem" vs "letzterer" - which ranks higher?
"letzterer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,515 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "letzterem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "letzterer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,804,276 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "letzterem" and "letzterer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letztem vs letzterem". 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 #1,804,276 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