Which to use
“leash” is a noun and “les” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,650
- “leash” frequency rank
- #6,067
- “les” frequency rank
- 21717
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leash | les |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A strap, cord or rope with which to restrain an animal, often a dog. | Clipping of lesbian. |
Where the eye mixes leash and les
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between leash and les
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leash is /liːʃ/ while les is /lɛz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leash is recorded at frequency rank #15,650, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːʃ/. les is at rank #6,067, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɛz/.
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 21717, this pair ranks #421,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leash vs les
Shared letters: els. Private to "leash": ah. Private to "les": -.
"leash" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "les" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- leash ← elash · laesh · leahs · leashh · leassh · lesah · lleash
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leash" and "les" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leash" or "les"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "leash" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "les" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leash" and "les" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leash vs Leh". 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 #421,873 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.