leapedvsleasesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,472
“leaped” frequency rank
#16,955
“leases” frequency rank
55427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaped leases
Definition simple past and past participle of leap third-person singular simple present indicative of lease

Where the eye mixes leaped and leases

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leaped and leases follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
leaped
6 ch
leases

Look-alike desk: leaped vs leases

A purely visual mix-up. leaped (/liːpt/) and leases (/ˈlisɪz/) 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 55427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leaped is recorded at frequency rank #38,472, classified as averb, pronounced /liːpt/. 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 55427, this pair ranks #133,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of leaped vs leases

Shared letters: ael. Private to "leaped": dp. Private to "leases": s.

"leaped" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leases" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leaped ← elaped · laeped · leaepd · leapde · leapedd · leapped · lepaed · lleaped
  • leases ← elases · laeses · leaess · leasess · leasses · lesaes · lleases

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leaped" and "leases" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/liːpt/ versus /ˈlisɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leaped" vs "leases" - which ranks higher?
"leases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,955 in our English list, against #38,472 for "leaped". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leaped" 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 #133,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leaped" and "leases" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leaker vs leaped". 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 #133,709 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