leese
/liːz/
"leese" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“leese” is uncommon English (frequency #96,162 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,162
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To lose.
Corpus desk
Index EN-leese · leese · English
leese · rank #96,162 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,162
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH Lebo
Nearest frequency peer: Lebo (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “leese”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Lebensraum
Lebensraum
3,842 corpus weight
- Lebesgue
Lebesgue
3,841 corpus weight
- Lebo
Lebo
3,840 corpus weight
- leese
leese
3,839 corpus weight
- Lefferts
Lefferts
3,838 corpus weight
- Lesseps
Lesseps
3,836 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “leese” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | leese |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /liːz/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #96,162 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “leese” in English
Rare enough to double-check
leese is uncommon English at frequency #96,162 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /liːz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To lose.".
Zero misspellings are on record for leese in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lesen, from Old English *lēosan (only attested in compounds: belēosan, forlēosan, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”). The correct English form is leese, spelled L-E-E-S-E.
Definition
- 1To lose.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how leese appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But flowers distill'd though they with winter meet, Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.
They would rather leese their friend than their jest.
Etymology
From Middle English lesen, from Old English *lēosan (only attested in compounds: belēosan, forlēosan, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”).
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "leese", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).