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'Lessen' means to reduce or decrease; 'lesson' is a unit of teaching or an experience that teaches.
Side-by-side comparison
"Lessen" is the verb to reduce or diminish: to make something smaller in intensity, quantity, or importance. "The pain lessened" = the pain decreased.
Taking breaks can lessen fatigue during long projects.
The medication was designed to lessen inflammation.
Her reassurances did nothing to lessen my anxiety.
"Lesson" is a period of instruction or teaching. Also an experience from which you learn something valuable. "Learn your lesson" = learn from your mistakes.
The grammar lesson covered past perfect and past simple.
Losing the contract was a painful but valuable lesson.
Let that be a lesson to all of us about deadlines.
Common mistake
- •"The medicine will lesson the pain" is wrong: the verb meaning to reduce is "lessen".
- •And "A valuable lessen" is wrong: the class or learning experience is "lesson" (noun).
Trick to remember it
- •"Lessen" ends in EN like "worsen", "soften", "deepen": change-verbs.
- •"Lesson" ends in ON like "season", "reason", "person": nouns.
Quick rule
- •Is it the act of reducing or decreasing (verb)? "Lessen".
- •Is it the class or learning experience (noun)? "Lesson".
Did you know?
The word "lesson" comes from Latin "lectio" (a reading or lecture), from "legere" (to read, to choose). That same Latin root gives English "lecture", "legible", "legend", "eligible", and "elect". A lesson is literally "a reading presented for study." The -EN pattern for causative verbs (to make something more or less of a quality) is very productive in English: from almost any adjective you can create a verb by adding -EN. "Bright" → "brighten." "Dark" → "darken." "Wide" → "widen." "Loose" → "loosen." "Tight" → "tighten." These -EN verbs are one of the most elegant word-formation mechanisms in English.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The medicine helped to _____ the pain. She felt much better after taking it.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
She has a piano _____ every Saturday morning at ten o'clock.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
'Affect' is the verb meaning to influence something; 'effect' is the noun meaning result or consequence.
'Aisle' is the walkway between rows of seats or shelves; 'isle' is a small island.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy