lestervsletterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lester is a verb, letter is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lester” is a verb and “letter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,774
“lester” frequency rank
#37,407
“letter” frequency rank
58181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lester letter
Definition Garnir de lest. Lettre, caractère.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lester and letter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
lester
6 ch
letter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lester is \lɛs.te\ while letter is \ˈlɛt.ə(ɹ)\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “lester” becomes t in “letter”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lester is recorded at frequency rank #20,774, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛs.te\. letter is at rank #37,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɛt.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 58181, this pair ranks #110,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lester vs letter

Shared letters: elrt. Private to "lester": s. Private to "letter": -.

"lester" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lesterelster · lesetr · lesster · lesterr · lestre · lestter · letser · llester
  • lettereltter · leter · letetr · letterr · lletter · lteter

Frequency comparison

lester#20,774
letter#37,407

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lester" and "letter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lester" is a verb and "letter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lester" or "letter"?
"lester" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,774 in our French list, against #37,407 for "letter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lester vs letter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lester”; for a noun, it's “letter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lester” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list