lesser
/ˈlɛsɚ/
"lesser" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lesser” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,806. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,806
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - comparative form of little: more little
Corpus desk
Index EN-lesser · lesser · English
lesser · rank #5,806 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,806
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH Kenya
Nearest frequency peer: Kenya (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “lesser”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- infected
infected
94,198 corpus weight
- keen
keen
94,197 corpus weight
- Kenya
Kenya
94,196 corpus weight
- lesser
lesser
94,195 corpus weight
- lip
lip
94,193 corpus weight
- mandatory
mandatory
94,192 corpus weight
What this shows “lesser” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | lesser |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlɛsɚ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,806 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “lesser”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around lesser (IPA /ˈlɛsɚ/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #5,806 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Dominant gloss: "comparative form of little: more little".
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for lesser, with forms such as "elsser", "leser", and "lesesr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "loser", "lever", "letter", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From less + -er. The correct English form is lesser, spelled L-E-S-S-E-R.
Definition
- 1comparative form of little: more little
Etymology
From less + -er.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- elsser
- leser
- lesesr
- lesserr
- lessre
- llesser
- lseser
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lesser - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lesser", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).