ladiesvsledgesConfusable pair

Which to use

“ladies” and “ledges” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,301
“ladies” frequency rank
#40,779
“ledges” frequency rank
43080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ladies ledges
Definition plural of lady plural of ledge

Where the eye mixes ladies and ledges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ladies (CVCVVC) and ledges (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
ladies
6 ch
ledges

Visual trap between ladies and ledges

A purely visual mix-up. ladies (/ˈleɪ.diz/) and ledges (/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ladies is recorded at frequency rank #2,301, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.diz/. ledges is at rank #40,779, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/.

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 43080, this pair ranks #243,408 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ladies vs ledges

Shared letters: dels. Private to "ladies": ai. Private to "ledges": g.

"ladies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "ledges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ladies ← aldies · laddies · ladeis · ladiess · ladise · laides · ldaies · lladies
  • ledges ← eldges · ldeges · leddges · ledegs · ledgess · ledgges · ledgse · legdes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ladies" and "ledges" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈleɪ.diz/ versus /ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ladies" or "ledges"?
"ladies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,301 in our English list, against #40,779 for "ledges". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ladies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ledges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,408 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ladies" and "ledges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ledges vs lodger". 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 #243,408 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