Which to use
“les” is a pronoun and “leves” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #101
- “les” frequency rank
- #14,882
- “leves” frequency rank
- 14983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | les | leves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Forma del plural de leve. |
Where the eye mixes les and leves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between les and leves
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: les is [les] while leves is [ˈleβ̞es]. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
les is recorded at frequency rank #101, classified as apron, pronounced [les]. leves is at rank #14,882, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈleβ̞es].
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 14983, this pair ranks #281,956 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of les vs leves
Shared letters: els. Private to "les": -. Private to "leves": v.
"les" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "leves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- leves ← elves · lebes · leevs · levess · levse · levves · lleves · lvees
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "les" for "leves" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "les" or "leves" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "les" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,956 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "les" and "leves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leves vs lies". 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 #281,956 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.