Which to use
“lessee” and “levee” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,324
- “lessee” frequency rank
- #37,541
- “levee” frequency rank
- 85865
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lessee | levee |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An individual or a corporation who has the right of use of something of value, gained through a lease agreement with the real owner of the property. | An elevated ridge of deposited sediment on the banks of a river, formed by the river's overflow at times of high discharge. |
Where the eye mixes lessee and levee
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lessee runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against levee's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between lessee and levee
A purely visual mix-up. lessee (/lɛˈsiː/) and levee (/ˈlɛvi/) 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 85865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lessee is recorded at frequency rank #48,324, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɛˈsiː/. levee is at rank #37,541, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛvi/.
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 85865, this pair ranks #9,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lessee vs levee
Shared letters: el. Private to "lessee": s. Private to "levee": v.
"lessee" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "levee" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lessee" for "levee" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lessee" vs "levee" - 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 "lessee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "levee" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,736 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lessee" and "levee" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lassie vs lessee". 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 #9,736 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.