leash
/liːʃ/noun, verb
leash is spelled L-E-A-S-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, leash means “A strap, cord or rope with which to restrain an animal, often a dog” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of leash is leashes.
How many letters and syllables are in leash?
| Letters | 5: L-E-A-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,613th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is leash?
Leash appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce leash?
- US /liːʃ/
Leash has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-leash.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with leash
Sounds like: Laois (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with leash?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as leash from its last stressed vowel (/iʃ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: shale, selah, halse.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of leash
- leashes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- leashing participle, present
- leashed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does leash mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A strap, cord or rope with which to restrain an animal, often a dog.
- 2
obsoleteA brace and a half; a tierce.
- 3
obsoleteA set of three animals (especially greyhounds, foxes, deer/bucks, and hares).
Coordinate term: brace
- 4
obsoleteA group of three.
- 5
A string with a loop at the end for lifting warp threads, in a loom.
- 6
A leg rope.
- 7
A kind of metrical construct in Skeltonics.
verb
- 1
To fasten or secure with a leash.
- 2
to curb, restrain
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Leash in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | laisse |
| German | Leine, Hundeleine , Dreier, Triade, Troika, Triplett |
| Portuguese | trela, guia , encoleirar |
| Spanish | correa, traílla, laja |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does leash come from?
From Middle English leesshe, leysche, lesshe, a variant of more original lease, from Middle English lees, leese, leece, lese, from Old French lesse (modern French laisse), either from Latin laxa, feminine form of laxus (“loose”) or, more probably, from a deverbal of Old French lesser, laissier, from Latin laxāre (“loose”); compare lax. Doublet of laisse.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).