Which to use
“legend” and “ligand” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,375
- “legend” frequency rank
- #27,197
- “ligand” frequency rank
- 30572
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | legend | ligand |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The life story of a saint (such stories are often embellished, but any kind is called a legend). | A molecule or moiety (ion, functional group, or radical) that binds to another chemical entity to form a larger complex; as, especially: |
Where the eye mixes legend and ligand
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between legend and ligand
A purely visual mix-up. legend (/ˈlɛd͡ʒ.ənd/) and ligand (/ˈlɪɡ.ənd/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
legend is recorded at frequency rank #3,375, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛd͡ʒ.ənd/. ligand is at rank #27,197, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɪɡ.ənd/.
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 30572, this pair ranks #353,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of legend vs ligand
Shared letters: dgln. Private to "legend": e. Private to "ligand": ai.
"legend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "ligand" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "legend" for "ligand" ever safe?
Frequency check: "legend" vs "ligand" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "legend" and "ligand" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "legend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ligand" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "legend" and "ligand" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lian vs ligand". 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 #353,466 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.