Which to use
“leer” is a verb and “leery” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,726
- “leer” frequency rank
- #48,321
- “leery” frequency rank
- 96047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leer | leery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent. | Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns. |
Where the eye mixes leer and leery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leer runs 4 letters (CVVC) against leery's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: leer vs leery
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leer is /lɪə/ while leery is /ˈlɪəɹi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “leer” sits inside “leery”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 96047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leer is recorded at frequency rank #47,726, classified as averb, pronounced /lɪə/. leery is at rank #48,321, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɪəɹi/.
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 96047, this pair ranks #718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leer vs leery
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leer": -. Private to "leery": y.
"leer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "leery" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leer" and "leery" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "leer" or "leery"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "leer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leer" and "leery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leer 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 #718 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.