latimervslatterWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#36,639
“latimer” frequency rank
#2,686
“latter” frequency rank
39325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature latimer latter
Definition Synonym of interpreter. Relating to or being the second of two items.

Where the eye mixes latimer and latter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
latimer
6 ch
latter

Visual trap between latimer and latter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: latimer is /ˈlætɪmə(ɹ)/ while latter is /ˈlæt.ə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

latimer is recorded at frequency rank #36,639, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlætɪmə(ɹ)/. latter is at rank #2,686, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlæt.ə(ɹ)/.

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 39325, this pair ranks #277,738 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of latimer vs latter

Shared letters: aelrt. Private to "latimer": im. Private to "latter": -.

"latimer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "latter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • latimeraltimer · laitmer · latiemr · latimerr · latimmer · latimre · latmier · lattimer
  • latteraltter · latetr · latterr · lattre · llatter · ltater

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "latimer" and "latter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "latimer" is a noun and "latter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "latimer" or "latter" show up more?
"latter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,686 in our English list, against #36,639 for "latimer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "latimer" and "latter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "latimer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "latter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,738 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "latimer" and "latter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lather vs latimer". 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 #277,738 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list