Which to use
“leary” and “leery” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,564
- “leary” frequency rank
- #48,321
- “leery” frequency rank
- 82885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leary | leery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative spelling of leery. | Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns. |
Letter map: leary vs leery
Shared letters muted; letters that set leary and leery apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. leary and leery follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Pair insight - leary / leery
leary and leery are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - a in “leary” becomes e in “leery”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leary is recorded at frequency rank #34,564, classified as anadj. leery is at rank #48,321, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɪəɹi/.
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 82885, this pair ranks #14,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leary vs leery
Shared letters: elry. Private to "leary": a. Private to "leery": -.
"leary" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "leery" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leary" and "leery" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leary" or "leery"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "leary" and "leery".
- Full dictionary entry for "leary" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leary" and "leery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leery vs lepers". 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 #14,883 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.