leaptvsleaveConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#27,194
“leapt” frequency rank
#457
“leave” frequency rank
27651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leapt leave
Definition simple past and past participle of leap To have a consequence or remnant.

Where the eye mixes leapt and leave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
leapt
5 ch
leave

Visual trap between leapt and leave

A purely visual mix-up. leapt (/lɛpt/) and leave (/liːv/) 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 27651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leapt is recorded at frequency rank #27,194, classified as averb, pronounced /lɛpt/. leave is at rank #457, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːv/.

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 27651, this pair ranks #377,242 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leapt vs leave

Shared letters: ael. Private to "leapt": pt. Private to "leave": v.

"leapt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leaptelapt · laept · leappt · leaptt · leatp · lepat · lleapt
  • leaveelave · laeve · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "leapt" for "leave" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/lɛpt/ versus /liːv/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "leapt" or "leave" show up more?
"leave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #457 in our English list, against #27,194 for "leapt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "leapt" and "leave" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leapt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #377,242 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leapt" and "leave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leapt vs LSAT". 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 #377,242 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