Which to use
“leased” and “lessen” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,629
- “leased” frequency rank
- #17,888
- “lessen” frequency rank
- 30517
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leased | lessen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of lease | To make less; to diminish; to reduce. |
Where the eye mixes leased and lessen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: leased vs lessen
A purely visual mix-up. leased (/liːst/) and lessen (/ˈlɛsən/) 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 30517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leased is recorded at frequency rank #12,629, classified as averb, pronounced /liːst/. lessen is at rank #17,888, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlɛsən/.
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 30517, this pair ranks #353,904 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leased vs lessen
Shared letters: els. Private to "leased": ad. Private to "lessen": n.
"leased" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "lessen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leased" and "lessen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leased" or "lessen"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "leased" and "lessen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "leased" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lessen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,904 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leased" and "lessen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lessee vs lessen". 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 #353,904 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.