Which to use
“lest” is a conjunction and “lusty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,158
- “lest” frequency rank
- #37,076
- “lusty” frequency rank
- 51234
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lest | lusty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | For fear that; that not; in order to prevent something from happening; in case. | Exhibiting lust (in the obsolete sense meaning "vigor"); strong, healthy, robust; vigorous; full of sap or vitality. |
Where the eye mixes lest and lusty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lest vs lusty
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lest is /lɛst/ while lusty is /ˈlʌsti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lest is recorded at frequency rank #14,158, classified as aconj, pronounced /lɛst/. lusty is at rank #37,076, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlʌsti/.
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 51234, this pair ranks #167,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lest vs lusty
Shared letters: lst. Private to "lest": e. Private to "lusty": uy.
"lest" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lusty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lest" and "lusty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lest" or "lusty" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lusty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #167,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lest" and "lusty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lundy vs lusty". 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 #167,179 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.