Which to use
“les” is a pronoun and “ley” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #101
- “les” frequency rank
- #204
- “ley” frequency rank
- 305
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | les | ley |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Disposición, regla o precepto dictado por la máxima autoridad. |
Where the eye mixes les and ley
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: les vs ley
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: les is [les] while ley is [ˈlej]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “les” becomes y in “ley”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
les is recorded at frequency rank #101, classified as apron, pronounced [les]. ley is at rank #204, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlej].
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 305, this pair ranks #323,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of les vs ley
Shared letters: el. Private to "les": s. Private to "ley": y.
"les" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ley" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "les" and "ley" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "les" or "ley"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "les" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ley" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "les" and "ley" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ley vs lies". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #323,556 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.