Which to use
“Lessing” is a name and “losing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,744
- “Lessing” frequency rank
- #1,487
- “losing” frequency rank
- 44231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lessing | losing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname from German. | present participle and gerund of lose |
Letter map: Lessing vs losing
Shared letters muted; letters that set Lessing and losing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Part-of-speech tell for Lessing / losing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Lessing is aname and losingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Lessing is recorded at frequency rank #42,744, classified as aname. losing is at rank #1,487, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈluːzɪŋ/.
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 44231, this pair ranks #232,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Lessing vs losing
Shared letters: gilns. Private to "Lessing": e. Private to "losing": o.
"Lessing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "losing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Lessing" for "losing" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Lessing" or "losing"?
What to do next
Pair "Lessing" vs "losing" 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 "losing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Lessing" and "losing" 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 #232,506 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.