ledgervsledgesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,208
“ledger” frequency rank
#40,779
“ledges” frequency rank
55987
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ledger ledges
Definition A book for keeping notes; a record book, a register. plural of ledge

Where the eye mixes ledger and ledges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ledger and ledges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
ledger
6 ch
ledges

Look-alike desk: ledger vs ledges

A purely visual mix-up. ledger (/ˈlɛd͡ʒə/) and ledges (/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/) 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 a single letter - r in “ledger” becomes s in “ledges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ledger is recorded at frequency rank #15,208, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒə/. ledges is at rank #40,779, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/.

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 55987, this pair ranks #129,503 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ledger vs ledges

Shared letters: degl. Private to "ledger": r. Private to "ledges": s.

"ledger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "ledges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ledger ← eldger · ldeger · leddger · ledegr · ledgerr · ledgger · ledgre · legder
  • ledges ← eldges · ldeges · leddges · ledegs · ledgess · ledgges · ledgse · legdes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ledger" and "ledges" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɛd͡ʒə/ versus /ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ledger" vs "ledges" - which ranks higher?
"ledger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,208 in our English list, against #40,779 for "ledges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ledger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ledges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,503 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ledger" and "ledges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ledges vs lodger". 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 #129,503 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