Which to use
“leaned” and “leased” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,954
- “leaned” frequency rank
- #12,629
- “leased” frequency rank
- 29583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaned | leased |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of lean | simple past and past participle of lease |
Where the eye mixes leaned and leased
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses leaned with leased
A purely visual mix-up. leaned (/liːnd/) and leased (/liːst/) 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 a single letter - n in “leaned” becomes s in “leased”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leaned is recorded at frequency rank #16,954, classified as averb, pronounced /liːnd/. leased is at rank #12,629, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːst/.
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 29583, this pair ranks #361,763 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leaned vs leased
Shared letters: adel. Private to "leaned": n. Private to "leased": s.
"leaned" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "leased" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leaned" and "leased" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "leaned" vs "leased" - which ranks higher?
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 "leaned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leased" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,763 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaned" and "leased" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laney vs leaned". 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 #361,763 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.