Which to use
“lesion” and “lotion” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,147
- “lesion” frequency rank
- #16,066
- “lotion” frequency rank
- 42213
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lesion | lotion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A wound or injury. | A low- to medium-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin. |
Where the eye mixes lesion and lotion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lesion and lotion follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between lesion and lotion
A purely visual mix-up. lesion (/ˈliːʒən/) and lotion (/ˈloʊʃən/) 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 42213, 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/. lotion is at rank #16,066, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈloʊʃən/.
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 42213, this pair ranks #251,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lesion vs lotion
Shared letters: ilno. Private to "lesion": es. Private to "lotion": t.
"lesion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "lotion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lesion" and "lotion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "lesion" vs "lotion" - which ranks higher?
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 "lotion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #251,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lesion" and "lotion" 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 #251,283 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.