leanedvslendWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“leaned” and “lend” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,954
“leaned” frequency rank
#8,057
“lend” frequency rank
25011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaned lend
Definition simple past and past participle of lean To allow to be used by someone temporarily, on condition that it or its equivalent will be returned.

Where the eye mixes leaned and lend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
leaned
4 ch
lend

Why the eye confuses leaned with lend

A purely visual mix-up. leaned (/liːnd/) and lend (/lɛnd/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25011, 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/. lend is at rank #8,057, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɛnd/.

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 25011, this pair ranks #397,614 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leaned vs lend

Shared letters: deln. Private to "leaned": a. Private to "lend": -.

"leaned" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "lend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leanedelaned · laened · leaend · leande · leanedd · leanned · lenaed · lleaned
  • lendelnd · ledn · lendd · lennd · llend · lned

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leaned" and "lend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/liːnd/ versus /lɛnd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leaned" or "lend"?
"lend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,057 in our English list, against #16,954 for "leaned". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "lend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #397,614 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leaned" and "lend" 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 #397,614 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