leftvslexWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: left is a adverb, lex is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“left” is an adverb and “lex” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,967
“left” frequency rank
#12,961
“lex” frequency rank
31928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature left lex
Definition links das Recht, das Gesetz, die Gesetzessammlung

Letter map: left vs lex

Shared letters muted; letters that set left and lex apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
left
3 ch
lex

Part-of-speech tell for left / lex

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: left is anadverb and lexanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

left is recorded at frequency rank #18,967, classified as anadv, pronounced [lɛft]. lex is at rank #12,961, tagged as anoun.

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 31928, this pair ranks #1,718,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of left vs lex

Shared letters: el. Private to "left": ft. Private to "lex": x.

"left" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leftelft · lefft · leftt · letf · lfet · lleft

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "left" for "lex" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "left" is an adverb and "lex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "left" or "lex"?
"lex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,961 in our German list, against #18,967 for "left". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "left" and "lex".

  • Full dictionary entry for "left" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,718,221 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "left" and "lex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs left". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,718,221 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list