# lest vs lit

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### lest
*conjunction · IPA /lɛst/ · frequency rank #14,158*
For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case.

### lit
*verb · IPA /ˈlɪt/ · frequency rank #5,231*
simple past and past participle of light (“illuminate; start a fire; etc”)

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