Which to use
“lees” and “lye” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,538
- “lees” frequency rank
- #40,787
- “lye” frequency rank
- 68325
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lees | lye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The sediment that settles during fermentation of beverages, consisting of dead yeast and precipitated parts of the fruit. | An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes). |
Where the eye mixes lees and lye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lees vs lye
A purely visual mix-up. lees (/liːz/) and lye (/laɪ/) 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 68325, 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/. lye is at rank #40,787, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪ/.
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 68325, this pair ranks #59,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lees vs lye
Shared letters: el. Private to "lees": s. Private to "lye": y.
"lees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lye" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lees ← leess · llees
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lees" for "lye" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "lees" or "lye" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lees" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lees" and "lye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LSC vs lye". 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 #59,371 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.