# less vs lessen

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### less
*adverb · IPA /lɛs/ · frequency rank #305*
comparative degree of little

### lessen
*verb · IPA /ˈlɛsən/ · frequency rank #17,888*
To make less; to diminish; to reduce.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/less-vs-lessen