Which to use
“Lessing” is a name and “letting” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,744
- “Lessing” frequency rank
- #2,840
- “letting” frequency rank
- 45584
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lessing | letting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname from German. | present participle and gerund of let |
Letter map: Lessing vs letting
Shared letters muted; letters that set Lessing and letting apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Part-of-speech tell for Lessing / letting
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Lessing is aname and lettingaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Lessing is recorded at frequency rank #42,744, classified as aname. letting is at rank #2,840, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlɛtɪŋ/.
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 45584, this pair ranks #219,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Lessing vs letting
Shared letters: egiln. Private to "Lessing": s. Private to "letting": t.
"Lessing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "letting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Lessing" for "letting" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Lessing" vs "letting" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "Lessing" vs "letting" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "Lessing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "letting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Lessing" and "letting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lashing vs Lessing". 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 #219,887 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.