ledgesvslodgerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,779
“ledges” frequency rank
#48,331
“lodger” frequency rank
89110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ledges lodger
Definition plural of ledge A person who lodges in another's house (compare tenant).

Where the eye mixes ledges and lodger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ledges and lodger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
ledges
6 ch
lodger

Why the eye confuses ledges with lodger

A purely visual mix-up. ledges (/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ledges is recorded at frequency rank #40,779, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/. 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 89110, this pair ranks #5,560 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ledges vs lodger

Shared letters: degl. Private to "ledges": s. Private to "lodger": or.

"ledges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lodger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ledges ← eldges · ldeges · leddges · ledegs · ledgess · ledgges · ledgse · legdes
  • lodger ← ldoger · llodger · loddger · lodegr · lodgerr · lodgger · lodgre · logder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ledges" and "lodger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɛd͡ʒɪz/ versus /ˈlɑd͡ʒɚ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ledges" vs "lodger" - which ranks higher?
"ledges" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,779 in our English list, against #48,331 for "lodger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ledges" 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 #5,560 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ledges" 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 #5,560 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