Which to use
“leech” and “leeches” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,327
- “leech” frequency rank
- #34,157
- “leeches” frequency rank
- 57484
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leech | leeches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of subclass Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis. | plural of leech |
Where the eye mixes leech and leeches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: leech vs leeches
A purely visual mix-up. leech (/liːt͡ʃ/) and leeches (/ˈliːt͡ʃ.ɪz/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “leech” sits inside “leeches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leech is recorded at frequency rank #23,327, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːt͡ʃ/. leeches is at rank #34,157, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈliːt͡ʃ.ɪz/.
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 57484, this pair ranks #119,005 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leech vs leeches
Shared letters: cehl. Private to "leech": -. Private to "leeches": s.
"leech" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "leeches" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leech" for "leeches" ever safe?
Frequency check: "leech" vs "leeches" - which ranks higher?
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 "leech" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leeches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,005 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leech" and "leeches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "latches vs leeches". 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 #119,005 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.