Which to use
“less” is an adverb and “lex” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,180
- “less” frequency rank
- #12,961
- “lex” frequency rank
- 43141
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | less | lex |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | weniger von etwas | das Recht, das Gesetz, die Gesetzessammlung |
Letter map: less vs lex
Shared letters muted; letters that set less and lex apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for less / lex
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: less is anadverb and lexanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
less is recorded at frequency rank #30,180, classified as anadv, pronounced [lɛs]. 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 43141, this pair ranks #1,427,376 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of less vs lex
Shared letters: el. Private to "less": s. Private to "lex": x.
"less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- less ← elss · les · leß · lless · lses
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "less" for "lex" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "less" or "lex" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "less" vs "lex" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "less" 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 #1,427,376 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "less" and "lex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "less vs Loses". 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 #1,427,376 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.