Which to use
“lees” and “lifes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,538
- “lees” frequency rank
- #31,638
- “lifes” frequency rank
- 59176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lees | lifes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages, consisting of dead yeast and precipitated parts of the fruit. | plural of life |
Letter map: lees vs lifes
Shared letters muted; letters that set lees and lifes apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Corpus notes: lees and lifes
lees and lifes are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lees is recorded at frequency rank #27,538, classified as anoun, pronounced /liːz/. lifes is at rank #31,638, tagged as anoun.
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 59176, this pair ranks #107,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lees vs lifes
Shared letters: els. Private to "lees": -. Private to "lifes": fi.
"lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lifes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lees" and "lifes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lees" or "lifes"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "lees" and "lifes". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "lees" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lifes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lees" and "lifes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lifes vs liken". 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 #107,820 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.