laundervslenderTell them apart

Which to use

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

#39,893
“launder” frequency rank
#12,269
“lender” frequency rank
52162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature launder lender
Definition A washerwoman or washerman. One who lends, especially money; specifically, a bank or other entity that specializes in granting loans.

Where the eye mixes launder and lender

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. launder runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against lender's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
launder
6 ch
lender

Visual trap between launder and lender

A purely visual mix-up. launder (/ˈlɔːndə/) and lender (/ˈlɛndɚ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

launder is recorded at frequency rank #39,893, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔːndə/. lender is at rank #12,269, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛndɚ/.

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 52162, this pair ranks #159,376 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of launder vs lender

Shared letters: delnr. Private to "launder": au. Private to "lender": -.

"launder" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "lender" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • launder ← alunder · lanuder · laudner · laundder · launderr · laundre · launedr · launnder
  • lender ← elnder · ledner · lendder · lenderr · lendre · lenedr · lennder · llender

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "launder" and "lender" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɔːndə/ versus /ˈlɛndɚ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "launder" or "lender" show up more?
"lender" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,269 in our English list, against #39,893 for "launder". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "launder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,376 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "launder" and "lender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "launder vs Laurier". 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 #159,376 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