lesbian
/ˈlɛz.bɪ.ən/
"lesbian" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lesbian” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,606 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,606
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Homosexual, gay; preferring exclusively women as romantic or sexual partners.
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 | lesbian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlɛz.bɪ.ən/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #5,606 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lesbian” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lesbian is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɛz.bɪ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,606 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for lesbian, with forms such as "elsbian", "lebsian", and "lesbain". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "lesion", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin Lesbiana, from Ancient Greek Λέσβος (Lésbos) + Latin adjective suffix -iana; by reference to Sappho of Lesbos (whence also sapphist, sapphic), known for her sentimental poems about women. This sense of the word may have been borrowed from, or inf… The correct English form is lesbian, spelled L-E-S-B-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1Homosexual, gay; preferring exclusively women as romantic or sexual partners.
- 2Homosexual, gay; preferring exclusively women as romantic or sexual partners.
- 3Between two or more women; homosexual, gay.
- 4Intended for lesbians.
- 5Alternative letter-case form of Lesbian (“of or pertaining to the island of Lesbos”).
Etymology
From Latin Lesbiana, from Ancient Greek Λέσβος (Lésbos) + Latin adjective suffix -iana; by reference to Sappho of Lesbos (whence also sapphist, sapphic), known for her sentimental poems about women. This sense of the word may have been borrowed from, or influenced by, the German cognate lesbisch, where it is found in medical literature from the 1830s.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elsbian,lebsian,lesbain,lesbbian,lesbiann,lesbina,lesiban,lessbian,llesbian,lsebian
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lesbian - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “lesbian”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E-S-B-I-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɛz.bɪ.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lesion” - see the side-by-side comparison. lesbian vs lesion
- 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.