Leach or leech?
leach is a noun meaning “A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the…”; leech is a noun meaning “A typically aquatic blood-sucking annelid of the subclass Hirudinea, especially…”. They sound the same (/liːt͡ʃ/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) leach is about as common as leech.
What is the difference between leach and leech?
| leach | leech | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc To purge a soluble matter out of something by the action of a percolating fluid | A typically aquatic blood-sucking annelid of the subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis A person who derives advantage from others in a parasitic fashion To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from the patient |
| Example | Heavy rainfall can leach out minerals important for plant growth from the soil | Near-synonyms: mooch, suck down |
| Forms | leaches | leeches |
| Pronunciation | /liːt͡ʃ/ | /ˈliːt͡ʃ/ [ˈlɪi̯t͡ʃ] |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words | 1.5 times per million words |
Sources: leach and leech in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of leach and leech
leach
- 1
A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali
- 2
To purge a soluble matter out of something by the action of a percolating fluid
Heavy rainfall can leach out minerals important for plant growth from the soil
- 3
A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc
- 4
To part with soluble constituents by percolation
The gangue was leached to recover minerals left behind by the original technology
- 5
Alternative spelling of leech
- 6
To bleed; to seep
- 7
A jelly-like sweetmeat popular in the fifteenth century
leech
- 1
A typically aquatic blood-sucking annelid of the subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis
- 2
To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from the patient
- 3
A healer
In ancient times runesters were a specialized class separate from that of the witch or ordinary spell caster (much as the other specialists such as the leech or healer and the…
- 4
The vertical edge of a square sail
- 5
A person who derives advantage from others in a parasitic fashion
- 6
To drain (resources) without giving back
Near-synonyms: mooch, suck down
- 7
The aft edge of a triangular sail
- 8
datedA glass tube designed for drawing blood from damaged tissue by means of a vacuum
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, leach or leech?
leach appears 1.8 times per million words; leech 1.5 times per million words.
leach 1.8 times per million wordsleech 1.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search leach vs leech?
“leach vs leech” is searched about 2,900 times a month on Google and 210 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“leech vs leach”, “leach or leech”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.