letzteremvsletzteresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,769
“letzterem” frequency rank
#5,733
“letzteres” frequency rank
22502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature letzterem letzteres
Definition Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs letztere Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs letztere

Where the eye mixes letzterem and letzteres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. letzterem and letzteres 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
letzteres

Why the eye confuses letzterem with letzteres

A purely visual mix-up. letzterem ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm]) 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 a single letter - m in “letzterem” becomes s in “letzteres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22502, 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]. 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 22502, this pair ranks #1,873,388 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of letzterem vs letzteres

Shared letters: elrtz. Private to "letzterem": m. Private to "letzteres": s.

"letzterem" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "letzteres" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • letzterem ← eltzterem · lettzerem · lettzterem · letzetrem · letzteerm · letzteremm · letzterme · letzterrem
  • letzteres ← eltzteres · lettzeres · lettzteres · letzetres · letzteers · letzteress · letzterres · letzterse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "letzterem" and "letzteres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁəm] versus [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "letzterem" or "letzteres" show up more?
"letzteres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,733 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "letzterem" 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 #1,873,388 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "letzterem" and "letzteres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "letters vs letzteres". 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 #1,873,388 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