leaguesvsledgesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,310
“leagues” frequency rank
#40,779
“ledges” frequency rank
49089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leagues ledges
Definition plural of league plural of ledge

Where the eye mixes leagues and ledges

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

7 ch
leagues
6 ch
ledges

Why the eye confuses leagues with ledges

A purely visual mix-up. leagues (/liːɡz/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leagues is recorded at frequency rank #8,310, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːɡz/. 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 49089, this pair ranks #186,954 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leagues vs ledges

Shared letters: egls. Private to "leagues": au. Private to "ledges": d.

"leagues" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "ledges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leagues ← elagues · laegues · leageus · leaggues · leaguess · leaguse · leauges · legaues
  • ledges ← eldges · ldeges · leddges · ledegs · ledgess · ledgges · ledgse · legdes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leagues" and "ledges" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/liːɡz/ versus /ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leagues" or "ledges"?
"leagues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,310 in our English list, against #40,779 for "ledges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leagues" 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 #186,954 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leagues" 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 #186,954 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