Which to use
“les” is a pronoun and “li” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #101
- “les” frequency rank
- #5,528
- “li” frequency rank
- 5629
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | les | li |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Él. |
Where the eye mixes les and li
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: les vs li
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: les is [les] while li is /ˈli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
les is recorded at frequency rank #101, classified as apron, pronounced [les]. li is at rank #5,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈli/.
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 5629, this pair ranks #313,131 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of les vs li
Shared letters: l. Private to "les": es. Private to "li": i.
"les" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "li" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "les" and "li" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "les" vs "li" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "les" and "li" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "les" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "li" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,131 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "les" and "li" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "li vs lies". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #313,131 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.