letzterenvsletzteresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,121
“letzteren” frequency rank
#5,733
“letzteres” frequency rank
19854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes letzteren and letzteres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. letzteren 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
letzteren
9 ch
letzteres

Look-alike desk: letzteren vs letzteres

A purely visual mix-up. letzteren ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁən]) 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 - n in “letzteren” becomes s in “letzteres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

letzteren is recorded at frequency rank #14,121, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlɛt͡stəʁən]. 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 19854, this pair ranks #1,903,886 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of letzteren vs letzteres

Shared letters: elrtz. Private to "letzteren": n. Private to "letzteres": s.

"letzteren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "letzteres" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • letzteren ← eltzteren · lettzeren · lettzteren · letzetren · letzteern · letzterenn · letzterne · letzterren
  • letzteres ← eltzteres · lettzeres · lettzteres · letzetres · letzteers · letzteress · letzterres · letzterse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "letzteren" and "letzteres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlɛt͡stəʁən] versus [ˈlɛt͡stəʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "letzteren" 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 #14,121 for "letzteren". 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 "letzteren" 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 #1,903,886 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "letzteren" and "letzteres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lettern vs letzteren". 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 #1,903,886 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