Which to use
“leery” and “lowery” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,321
- “leery” frequency rank
- #42,753
- “lowery” frequency rank
- 91074
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leery | lowery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cautious, suspicious, wary, hesitant, or nervous about something; having reservations or concerns. | Dark and gloomy; threatening; lowering. |
Where the eye mixes leery and lowery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leery runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against lowery's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: leery vs lowery
A purely visual mix-up. leery (/ˈlɪəɹi/) and lowery (/ˈlaʊəɹi/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91074, 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/. lowery is at rank #42,753, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlaʊəɹi/.
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 91074, this pair ranks #3,600 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leery vs lowery
Shared letters: elry. Private to "leery": -. Private to "lowery": ow.
"leery" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lowery" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leery" and "lowery" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leery" or "lowery"?
After this comparison
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 "lowery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,600 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leery" and "lowery" 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 #3,600 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.