Which to use
“lakh” is a num and “leaky” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,258
- “lakh” frequency rank
- #26,859
- “leaky” frequency rank
- 48117
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lakh | leaky |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,000. | Having leaks; not fully sealed. |
Where the eye mixes lakh and leaky
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lakh runs 4 letters (CVCC) against leaky's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between lakh and leaky
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lakh is /lɑkʰ/ while leaky is /ˈliːki/. 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 (num vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lakh is recorded at frequency rank #21,258, classified as anum, pronounced /lɑkʰ/. leaky is at rank #26,859, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈliːki/.
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 48117, this pair ranks #196,124 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lakh vs leaky
Shared letters: akl. Private to "lakh": h. Private to "leaky": ey.
"lakh" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "leaky" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lakh" and "leaky" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lakh" or "leaky" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lakh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leaky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #196,124 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lakh" and "leaky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leaky vs leery". 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 #196,124 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.