Which to use
“leaky” and “leery” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,859
- “leaky” frequency rank
- #48,321
- “leery” frequency rank
- 75180
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaky | leery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having leaks; not fully sealed. | Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns. |
Where the eye mixes leaky and leery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. leaky and leery follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses leaky with leery
A purely visual mix-up. leaky (/ˈliːki/) and leery (/ˈlɪəɹi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leaky is recorded at frequency rank #26,859, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈliːki/. leery is at rank #48,321, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɪəɹi/.
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 75180, this pair ranks #33,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leaky vs leery
Shared letters: ely. Private to "leaky": ak. Private to "leery": r.
"leaky" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "leery" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leaky" and "leery" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "leaky" or "leery" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "leaky" and "leery" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "leaky" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaky" and "leery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leery vs lepers". 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 #33,921 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.