le
/lə/
"le" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“le” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,005 in English word frequency and used as an article.
- #3,005
- frequency rank, English
- 2
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - the
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | le |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Article |
| IPA | /lə/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #3,005 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “le” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for le is 2 letters long, classified as an article, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /lə/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,005 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "the".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for le, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "li", "Lt", "lo", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French le (“the”). Popularized especially by the expression le sigh. The correct English form is le, spelled L-E.
Definition
- 1the
Etymology
Borrowed from French le (“the”). Popularized especially by the expression le sigh.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "le"?
What does "le" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "le"?
How do you pronounce "le"?
What is the origin of the word "le"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “le”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /lə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “li” - see the side-by-side comparison. le vs li
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.