leak vs leaks, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“leak” and “leaks” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,893
“leak” frequency rank: #44,019
“leaks” frequency rank: 82912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	leak	leaks
Definition	Fuite d’informations confidentielles.	Pluriel de leak.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leak and leaks apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

leak

5 ch

leaks

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. leak (\lik\) and leaks (\ˈliks\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “leak” sits inside “leaks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leak is recorded at frequency rank #38,893, classified as anoun, pronounced \lik\. leaks is at rank #44,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈliks\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 82912, this pair ranks #15,775 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of leak vs leaks

Shared letters: aekl. Private to "leak": -. Private to "leaks": s.

"leak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "leaks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

leak ← elak · leakk · leka · lleak
leaks ← elaks · laeks · leakks · leakss · leask · lekas · lleaks

Frequency comparison

leak#38,893

leaks#44,019

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leak" and "leaks" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\lik\ versus \ˈliks\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "leak" or "leaks"?

"leak" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,893 in our French list, against #44,019 for "leaks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering leak vs leaks

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leak” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable