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later ~ latter ~ letter

[different first vowel sound]

“Later” (adjective & adverb) — late – later – the latest — is the comparative form of the adjective or adverb ‘late’, which means ‘arriving or happening after the usually or proper or appointed time’,

e.g.

First we had some soup, and later we ate our dinner.

I didn’t tell him all my problems right after meeting him, but later when he was in a relaxed mood, I poured out one problem after the other.

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“Latter” (with a double ‘t’) (adjective) means ‘belonging to the end or nearer to the end of something or of a period of time; the second of the two people or things mentioned before’,

{please, go to entry ‘farmer – former’}

e.g.

The latter chapters of that book were boring.

Tigers and deer are wild animals; the former, meat-eating and the latter, grass-eating.

[i.e. the former = tigers; the latter = deer]

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“Letter” (noun) is ‘one of the signs in writing to represent a sound (the letters of alphabet – A B C D E…); a written or typed message usually sent in an envelope or on postal cover’,

e.g.

The letter of English alphabet ‘K’ is not pronounced in the word “knee”.

She wrote a letter to her husband and posted it.

Common Errors:

She arrived at the party latter than we had expected.  [wrong]

She arrived at the party later than we had expected.   [right]

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