# leer vs lest

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### leer
*verb · IPA /lɪə/ · frequency rank #47,726*
To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent.

### lest
*conjunction · IPA /lɛst/ · frequency rank #14,158*
For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/leer-vs-lest