Which to use
“linger” is a verb and “lister” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,382
- “linger” frequency rank
- #25,121
- “lister” frequency rank
- 44503
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | linger | lister |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so. | One who, or that which, lists or produces a listing. |
Letter map: linger vs lister
Shared letters muted; letters that set linger and lister apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. linger and lister follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Part-of-speech tell for linger / lister
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: linger is averb and listeranoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
linger is recorded at frequency rank #19,382, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlɪŋɡɚ/. lister is at rank #25,121, tagged as anoun.
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 44503, this pair ranks #229,933 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of linger vs lister
Shared letters: eilr. Private to "linger": gn. Private to "lister": st.
"linger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "linger" for "lister" ever safe?
Frequency check: "linger" vs "lister" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "linger" and "lister". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "linger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lister" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,933 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "linger" and "lister" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linker vs lister". 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 #229,933 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.