Which to use
“leaker” is a noun and “lesser” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,319
- “leaker” frequency rank
- #5,806
- “lesser” frequency rank
- 54125
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaker | lesser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Somebody who leaks information. | comparative form of little: more little |
Letter map: leaker vs lesser
Shared letters muted; letters that set leaker and lesser apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Part-of-speech tell for leaker / lesser
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leaker is anoun and lesseranadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54125, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leaker is recorded at frequency rank #48,319, classified as anoun. lesser is at rank #5,806, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɛsɚ/.
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 54125, this pair ranks #143,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leaker vs lesser
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leaker": ak. Private to "lesser": s.
"leaker" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "lesser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leaker" for "lesser" ever safe?
Frequency check: "leaker" vs "lesser" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "leaker" and "lesser". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "leaker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lesser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaker" and "lesser" 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 #143,500 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.