Which to use
“leaner” is an adjective and “leased” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,939
- “leaner” frequency rank
- #12,629
- “leased” frequency rank
- 51568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaner | leased |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | comparative form of lean: more lean | simple past and past participle of lease |
Letter map: leaner vs leased
Shared letters muted; letters that set leaner and leased apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: leaner vs leased
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leaner is anadjective and leasedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leaner is recorded at frequency rank #38,939, classified as anadj. 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 51568, this pair ranks #164,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leaner vs leased
Shared letters: ael. Private to "leaner": nr. Private to "leased": ds.
"leaner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "leased" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leaner" for "leased" ever safe?
Which is more common, "leaner" or "leased"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "leaner" and "leased".
- Full dictionary entry for "leaner" 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 #164,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaner" and "leased" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laver vs leaner". 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 #164,371 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.