Which to use
“leery” and “leger” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,321
- “leery” frequency rank
- #42,234
- “leger” frequency rank
- 90555
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leery | leger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns. | Light; slender, slim; trivial. |
Where the eye mixes leery and leger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leery (CVVCV) and leger (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses leery with leger
A purely visual mix-up. leery (/ˈlɪəɹi/) and leger (/ˈlɛd͡ʒə(ɹ)/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leery is recorded at frequency rank #48,321, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɪəɹi/. leger is at rank #42,234, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒə(ɹ)/.
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 90555, this pair ranks #4,075 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leery vs leger
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leery": y. Private to "leger": g.
"leery" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "leger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leery" and "leger" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leery" or "leger"?
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 "leery" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,075 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leery" and "leger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leery vs lepers". 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 #4,075 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.