Which to use
“lay” is a noun and “les” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,585
- “lay” frequency rank
- #101
- “les” frequency rank
- 35686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lay | les |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Composición poética medieval de los provenzales y de los franceses, destinada a relatar una leyenda o historia de amores, generalmente en versos cortos. | Forma del dativo de ellos. Dativo del pronombre personal de tercera persona en género masculino o femenino y número plural. No admite preposición y se puede usar como sufijo: LES di; daLES. Es grave incorrección emplear en este caso para el género masculino la forma los, propia del acusativo, y en femenino tampoco debe emplearse la forma las, aunque lo hayan hecho escritores de nota. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lay and les apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
lay and les form a confusable pair in the Spanish index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lay is recorded at frequency rank #35,585, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaj]. les is at rank #101, tagged as apron, pronounced [les].
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 35686, this pair ranks #184,725 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lay" and "les" be used interchangeably?
Remembering lay vs les
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lay”; for a pronoun, it's “les”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lay” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable