Which to use
“le” is an article and “li” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,005
- “le” frequency rank
- #4,685
- “li” frequency rank
- 7690
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | le | li |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | the | The Chinese mile, a traditional unit of distance equal to 1500 chis or 150 zhangs, now standardized as a half-kilometer (500 meters). |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set le and li apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
le and li form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - e in “le” becomes i in “li” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
le is recorded at frequency rank #3,005, classified as anarticle, pronounced /lə/. li is at rank #4,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced /liː/.
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 7690, this pair ranks #506,012 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "le" and "li" be used interchangeably?
Remembering le vs li
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an article, it's “le”; for a noun, it's “li”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “le” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable