lacingvsleasingWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#46,579
“lacing” frequency rank
#13,947
“leasing” frequency rank
60526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lacing leasing
Definition present participle and gerund of lace A lie; the act of lying, falsehood.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
lacing
7 ch
leasing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lacing is /ˈleɪsɪŋ/ while leasing is /ˈliːzɪŋ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lacing is recorded at frequency rank #46,579, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈleɪsɪŋ/. leasing is at rank #13,947, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈliːzɪŋ/.

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 60526, this pair ranks #99,716 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lacing vs leasing

Shared letters: agiln. Private to "lacing": c. Private to "leasing": es.

"lacing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "leasing" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacingalcing · laccing · lacign · lacingg · lacinng · lacnig · laicng · lcaing
  • leasingelasing · laesing · leaisng · leasign · leasingg · leasinng · leasnig · leassing

Frequency comparison

lacing#46,579
leasing#13,947

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lacing" and "leasing" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lacing" is a verb and "leasing" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lacing" or "leasing"?
"leasing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,947 in our English list, against #46,579 for "lacing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lacing vs leasing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lacing”; for a noun, it's “leasing”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lacing” 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