Leith
/liːθ/
"leith" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Leith” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,539 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #27,539
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A port and suburban town within the City of Edinburgh council area, Scotland.
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 | Leith |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /liːθ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #27,539 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Leith” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Leith is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /liːθ/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,539 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Leith, with forms such as "elith", "leiht", and "leithh". 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, "let", "lit", "lets", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From river-names derived from Proto-Brythonic *lleɨθ (“moist”) (compare Welsh llaith). The correct English form is Leith, spelled L-E-I-T-H.
Definition
- 1A port and suburban town within the City of Edinburgh council area, Scotland.
- 2A minor river in Cumbria, England, which flows into the River Lyvennet, a tributary of the Eden.
- 3A city and hamlet in North Dakota.
- 4A locality in Central Coast council area and the City of Devonport, northern Tasmania, Australia.
- 5A surname.
Etymology
From river-names derived from Proto-Brythonic *lleɨθ (“moist”) (compare Welsh llaith).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elith,leiht,leithh,leitth,letih,lieth,lleith
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Leith - 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
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Using “Leith”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E-I-T-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /liːθ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “let” - see the side-by-side comparison. Leith vs let
- 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.