ledger
/ˈlɛd͡ʒə/
"ledger" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ledger” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,208 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,208
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A book for keeping notes; a record book, a register.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ledger |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɛd͡ʒə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #15,208 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ledger” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ledger is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɛd͡ʒə/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,208 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for ledger, with forms such as "eldger", "ldeger", and "leddger". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "leer", "lodge", "lever", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English liggere, ligger, leger (“large breviary; beam, plank; dweller, inhabitant”), from liggen, leggen, variants of līen (“to lie down; to bow, kneel, prostrate; to die; to be located (somewhere); to remain in place, stay”), from Old English l… The correct English form is ledger, spelled L-E-D-G-E-R.
Definition
- 1A book for keeping notes; a record book, a register.
- 2A book or other scheme for keeping accounting records.
- 3A book or other scheme for keeping accounting records.
- 4A collection of accounting entries consisting of credits and debits.
- 5A large, flat stone, especially one laid over a tomb.
- 6A board attached to a wall to provide support for attaching other structural elements (such as deck joists or roof rafters) to a building.
- 7Ellipsis of ledger bait (“fishing bait attached to a floating line fastened to the bank of a pond, stream, etc.”) or ledger line (“fishing line used with ledger bait for bottom fishing; ligger”).
Etymology
From Middle English liggere, ligger, leger (“large breviary; beam, plank; dweller, inhabitant”), from liggen, leggen, variants of līen (“to lie down; to bow, kneel, prostrate; to die; to be located (somewhere); to remain in place, stay”), from Old English liċġan (“to lie down; to be situated”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie down”). The word is cognate with Saterland Frisian Lägger (“floor board, joist, plank”), West Frisian lêger (“beam, plank”), Dutch legger (“daybook; layer”) (from leggen (“to lay”), liggen (“to lie down”)), and is related to English ledge, lie (“to be prostrate”). The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eldger,ldeger,leddger,ledegr,ledgerr,ledgger,ledgre,legder,lledger
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ledger - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ledger"?
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Using “ledger”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E-D-G-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɛd͡ʒə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “leer” - see the side-by-side comparison. ledger vs leer
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.