leedvslegendConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,780
“leed” frequency rank
#3,375
“legend” frequency rank
44155
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leed legend
Definition Language; tongue. The life story of a saint (such stories are often embellished, but any kind is called a legend).

Where the eye mixes leed and legend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leed runs 4 letters (CVVC) against legend's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
leed
6 ch
legend

Look-alike desk: leed vs legend

A purely visual mix-up. leed (/liːd/) and legend (/ˈlɛd͡ʒ.ənd/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44155, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leed is recorded at frequency rank #40,780, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːd/. legend is at rank #3,375, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒ.ənd/.

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 44155, this pair ranks #233,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leed vs legend

Shared letters: del. Private to "leed": -. Private to "legend": gn.

"leed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "legend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leed ← eled · lede · leedd · lleed
  • legend ← elgend · leegnd · legedn · legendd · legennd · leggend · legned · lgeend

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "leed" and "legend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/liːd/ versus /ˈlɛd͡ʒ.ənd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leed" or "legend"?
"legend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,375 in our English list, against #40,780 for "leed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "leed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "legend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leed" and "legend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leed vs lel". 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 #233,198 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