LEMvslemmaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“LEM” and “lemma” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,810
“LEM” frequency rank
#39,896
“lemma” frequency rank
75706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature LEM lemma
Definition Originally Lunar Excursion Module, latterly Lunar Module. A proposition proved or accepted for immediate use in the proof of some other proposition.

Letter map: LEM vs lemma

Shared letters muted; letters that set LEM and lemma apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
LEM
5 ch
lemma

Pair insight - LEM / lemma

LEM and lemma 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 2 extra letter(s) - “LEM” sits inside “lemma”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

LEM is recorded at frequency rank #35,810, classified as anoun. lemma is at rank #39,896, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛmə/.

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 75706, this pair ranks #32,285 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of LEM vs lemma

Shared letters: elm. Private to "LEM": -. Private to "lemma": a.

"LEM" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lemma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lemmaelmma · lema · lemam · llemma · lmema

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "LEM" and "lemma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “LEM” sits inside “lemma”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "LEM" or "lemma" show up more?
"LEM" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,810 in our English list, against #39,896 for "lemma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "LEM" and "lemma".

  • Full dictionary entry for "LEM" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lemma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,285 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "LEM" and "lemma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lemma vs lemur". 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 #32,285 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list