Which to use
“lease” and “lee” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,432
- “lease” frequency rank
- #1,905
- “lee” frequency rank
- 7337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lease | lee |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An interest in land granting exclusive use or occupation of real estate for a limited period; a leasehold. | A protected cove or harbor, out of the wind. |
Where the eye mixes lease and lee
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lease vs lee
A purely visual mix-up. lease (/liːs/) and lee (/liː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lease is recorded at frequency rank #5,432, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːs/. lee is at rank #1,905, tagged as anoun, pronounced /liː/.
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 7337, this pair ranks #507,559 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lease vs lee
Shared letters: el. Private to "lease": as. Private to "lee": -.
"lease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lee" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lease ← elase · laese · leaes · leasse · lesae · llease
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lease" and "lee" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lease" or "lee"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lease" and "lee" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #507,559 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lease" and "lee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lease vs lessee". 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 #507,559 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.