Which to use
“less” is an adverb and “lis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #305
- “less” frequency rank
- #25,822
- “lis” frequency rank
- 26127
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | less | lis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | comparative degree of little | Clipping of fleur-de-lis. |
Letter map: less vs lis
Shared letters muted; letters that set less and lis apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: less is anadverb and lisanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
less is recorded at frequency rank #305, classified as anadv, pronounced /lɛs/. lis is at rank #25,822, 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 26127, this pair ranks #389,009 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of less vs lis
Shared letters: ls. Private to "less": e. Private to "lis": i.
"less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- less ← elss · lless · lses