# lens

> English word · Noun · IPA /lɛnz/ · frequency rank #5,433

## Definitions
1. An object, usually made of glass, that focuses or defocuses the light that passes through it.
2. A device which focuses or defocuses other waves or radiation, such as microwave radiation, electron beams, sound waves (acoustic lenses), or explosions (explosive lenses).
3. A convex shape bounded by two circular arcs, joined at their endpoints, the corresponding concave shape being a lune.
4. A genus of the legume family; its bean.
5. The transparent crystalline structure in the eye.
6. A body of rock, ice, or water shaped like a convex lens.
7. A convex layer of fresh groundwater that floats above the denser saltwater, usually found on small coral or limestone islands and atolls.
8. A construct used in statically-typed functional programming languages to access nested data structures.
9. A way of looking, literally or figuratively, at something.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lēns (“lentil”), with Medieval Latin later taking on the sense of “lens”, a semantic loan from Arabic عَدْسَة (ʕadsa, “lentil; optic lens”).

## Easily confused with
- **LN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-ln)
- **Ls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-ls)
- **let** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-let)
- **los** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-los)
- **leo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-leo)
- **les** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-les)
- **lin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lin)
- **lex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lex)
- **Lew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lew)
- **lev** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lev)
- **Lon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lon)
- **lis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lis)
- **lyn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lyn)
- **ley** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-ley)
- **lun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-lun)
- **long** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-long)
- **less** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-less)
- **line** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-line)
- **loss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-loss)
- **link** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lens-vs-link)

## Common misspellings (6)
`elns`, `lenns`, `lenss`, `lesn`, `llens`, `lnes`

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