Which to use
“lejos” is an adverb and “les” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #746
- “lejos” frequency rank
- #101
- “les” frequency rank
- 847
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lejos | les |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A gran distancia. | 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 eye mixes lejos and les
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lejos and les
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lejos is [ˈlexos] while les is [les]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lejos is recorded at frequency rank #746, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈlexos]. 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 847, this pair ranks #322,889 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lejos vs les
Shared letters: els. Private to "lejos": jo. Private to "les": -.
"lejos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "les" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lejos ← eljos · lejjos · lejoss · lejso · leojs · ljeos · llejos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lejos" for "les" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lejos" or "les"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lejos" and "les" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lejos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "les" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,889 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lejos" and "les" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lejos vs lens". 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 #322,889 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.