lodevslodgerTell them apart

Which to use

“lode” and “lodger” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,231
“lode” frequency rank
#48,331
“lodger” frequency rank
89562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lode lodger
Definition A way or path; a road. A person who lodges in another's house (compare tenant).

Where the eye mixes lode and lodger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lode
6 ch
lodger

Look-alike desk: lode vs lodger

A purely visual mix-up. lode (/ləʊd/) and lodger (/ˈlɑd͡ʒɚ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lode is recorded at frequency rank #41,231, classified as anoun, pronounced /ləʊd/. lodger is at rank #48,331, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɑd͡ʒɚ/.

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 89562, this pair ranks #5,069 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lode vs lodger

Shared letters: delo. Private to "lode": -. Private to "lodger": gr.

"lode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lodger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lodeldoe · llode · lodde
  • lodgerldoger · llodger · loddger · lodegr · lodgerr · lodgger · lodgre · logder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lode" and "lodger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ləʊd/ versus /ˈlɑd͡ʒɚ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lode" or "lodger"?
"lode" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,231 in our English list, against #48,331 for "lodger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lode" and "lodger" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lodger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,069 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lode" and "lodger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lodger vs luger". 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 #5,069 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list