# ledger

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈlɛd͡ʒə/ · frequency rank #15,208

## Definitions
1. A book for keeping notes; a record book, a register.
2. A book or other scheme for keeping accounting records.
3. A book or other scheme for keeping accounting records.
4. A collection of accounting entries consisting of credits and debits.
5. A large, flat stone, especially one laid over a tomb.
6. A board attached to a wall to provide support for attaching other structural elements (such as deck joists or roof rafters) to a building.
7. Ellipsis 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.

## Easily confused with
- **leer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-leer)
- **lodge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lodge)
- **lever** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lever)
- **leper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-leper)
- **leger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-leger)
- **luger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-luger)
- **longer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-longer)
- **letter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-letter)
- **lesser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lesser)
- **Lester** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lester)
- **lender** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lender)
- **legged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-legged)
- **lodged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lodged)
- **linger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-linger)
- **ledges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-ledges)
- **lodger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledger-vs-lodger)
- **ledge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ledge-vs-ledger)
- **lager** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lager-vs-ledger)
- **leader** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/leader-vs-ledger)
- **larger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/larger-vs-ledger)

## Common misspellings (9)
`eldger`, `ldeger`, `leddger`, `ledegr`, `ledgerr`, `ledgger`, `ledgre`, `legder`, `lledger`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ledger