Which to use
“league” and “leagues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #772
- “league” frequency rank
- #8,310
- “leagues” frequency rank
- 9082
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | league | leagues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A group or association of cooperating members. | plural of league |
Where the eye mixes league and leagues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. league runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against leagues's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between league and leagues
A purely visual mix-up. league (/liːɡ/) and leagues (/liːɡz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “league” sits inside “leagues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
league is recorded at frequency rank #772, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːɡ/. leagues is at rank #8,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced /liːɡz/.
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 9082, this pair ranks #499,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of league vs leagues
Shared letters: aeglu. Private to "league": -. Private to "leagues": s.
"league" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "leagues" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "league" and "leagues" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "league" or "leagues"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "league" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leagues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #499,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "league" and "leagues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leagues vs ledges". 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 #499,184 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.