Which to use
“leaker” is a noun and “leer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,319
- “leaker” frequency rank
- #47,726
- “leer” frequency rank
- 96045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaker | leer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Somebody who leaks information. | To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent. |
Letter map: leaker vs leer
Shared letters muted; letters that set leaker and leer apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. leaker runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against leer's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for leaker / leer
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leaker is anoun and leeraverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 96045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leaker is recorded at frequency rank #48,319, classified as anoun. leer is at rank #47,726, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɪə/.
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 96045, this pair ranks #721 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leaker vs leer
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leaker": ak. Private to "leer": -.
"leaker" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "leer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leaker" and "leer" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "leaker" or "leer" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "leaker" and "leer".
- Full dictionary entry for "leaker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #721 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaker" and "leer" 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 #721 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.