English homophones
lessen/lesson
"lesson" (#3,177 written frequency) beats "lessen" (#17,888) in this 2-word /ˈlɛsən/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈlɛsən/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "lesson" leads at #3,177, with "lessen" trailing at #17,888.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "less" then splits - "lessen" (6 letters) vs "lesson" (6).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across lessen, lesson: elns. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
lessen
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCVC
Inventory elns · no private letters vs siblings
lesson
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCVC
Inventory elnos · private o
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "lessen" when you mean: To make less; to diminish; to reduce.
- Write "lesson" when you mean: To instruct to teach.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (lessen, lesson). Here's where to go from here.
- "lesson" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #3,177 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Lawrence · Laurence. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "lessen, lesson" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.