lesionvslexiconTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,147
“lesion” frequency rank
#25,453
“lexicon” frequency rank
51600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lesion lexicon
Definition A wound or injury. The vocabulary of a language.

Where the eye mixes lesion and lexicon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
lesion
7 ch
lexicon

Visual trap between lesion and lexicon

A purely visual mix-up. lesion (/ˈliːʒən/) and lexicon (/ˈlɛk.sɪ.kən/) 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 51600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lesion is recorded at frequency rank #26,147, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈliːʒən/. lexicon is at rank #25,453, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛk.sɪ.kən/.

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 51600, this pair ranks #164,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lesion vs lexicon

Shared letters: eilno. Private to "lesion": s. Private to "lexicon": cx.

"lesion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "lexicon" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lesionelsion · leison · lesino · lesionn · lesoin · lession · letion · llesion
  • lexiconelxicon · leixcon · lexcion · lexiccon · lexicno · lexiconn · lexiocn · lexxicon

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lesion" and "lexicon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈliːʒən/ versus /ˈlɛk.sɪ.kən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lesion" vs "lexicon" - which ranks higher?
"lexicon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,453 in our English list, against #26,147 for "lesion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "lesion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lexicon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #164,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lesion" and "lexicon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lesion vs Leyton". 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 #164,106 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