leanervsleasesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: leaner is a adjective, leases is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leaner” is an adjective and “leases” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,939
“leaner” frequency rank
#16,955
“leases” frequency rank
55894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaner leases
Definition comparative form of lean: more lean third-person singular simple present indicative of lease

Letter map: leaner vs leases

Shared letters muted; letters that set leaner and leases apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
leaner
6 ch
leases

Grammar separator: leaner vs leases

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leaner is anadjective and leasesaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leaner is recorded at frequency rank #38,939, classified as anadj. leases is at rank #16,955, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlisɪz/.

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 55894, this pair ranks #130,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of leaner vs leases

Shared letters: ael. Private to "leaner": nr. Private to "leases": s.

"leaner" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leases" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leanerelaner · laener · leaenr · leanerr · leanner · leanre · lenaer · lleaner
  • leaseselases · laeses · leaess · leasess · leasses · lesaes · lleases

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leaner" and "leases" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leaner" is an adjective and "leases" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "leaner" or "leases" show up more?
"leases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,955 in our English list, against #38,939 for "leaner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "leaner" and "leases". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leaner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leases" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #130,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leaner" and "leases" 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 #130,142 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