Which to use
“ledger” and “lodger” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,208
- “ledger” frequency rank
- #48,331
- “lodger” frequency rank
- 63539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ledger | lodger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A book for keeping notes; a record book, a register. | A person who lodges in another's house (compare tenant). |
Where the eye mixes ledger and lodger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ledger and lodger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses ledger with lodger
A purely visual mix-up. ledger (/ˈlɛd͡ʒə/) and lodger (/ˈlɑd͡ʒɚ/) 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 - e in “ledger” becomes o in “lodger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63539, 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/. lodger is at rank #48,331, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɑd͡ʒɚ/.
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 63539, this pair ranks #82,413 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ledger vs lodger
Shared letters: deglr. Private to "ledger": -. Private to "lodger": o.
"ledger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lodger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ledger" and "lodger" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ledger" or "lodger"?
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 "lodger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,413 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ledger" and "lodger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lodger vs luger". 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 #82,413 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.