leakervsleaveTell them apart

Quick tell: leaker is a noun, leave is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leaker” is a noun and “leave” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,319
“leaker” frequency rank
#457
“leave” frequency rank
48776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaker leave
Definition Somebody who leaks information. To have a consequence or remnant.

Letter map: leaker vs leave

Shared letters muted; letters that set leaker and leave apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. leaker runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against leave's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
leaker
5 ch
leave

Grammar separator: leaker vs leave

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leaker is anoun and leaveaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leaker is recorded at frequency rank #48,319, classified as anoun. leave is at rank #457, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːv/.

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 48776, this pair ranks #189,876 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leaker vs leave

Shared letters: ael. Private to "leaker": kr. Private to "leave": v.

"leaker" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leaker ← elaker · laeker · leaekr · leakerr · leakker · leakre · lekaer · lleaker
  • leave ← elave · laeve · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leaker" and "leave" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leaker" is a noun and "leave" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "leaker" vs "leave" - which ranks higher?
"leave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #457 in our English list, against #48,319 for "leaker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "leaker" and "leave".

  • Full dictionary entry for "leaker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #189,876 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leaker" and "leave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laver vs leaker". 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 #189,876 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