Which to use
“les” is a pronoun and “ll” is a character - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #101
- “les” frequency rank
- #15,141
- “ll” frequency rank
- 15242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | les | ll |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Dígrafo que fue considerado -entre 1754 y 2010- como la decimocuarta letra del alfabeto español y su undécima consonante, pero ya no lo es. Su nombre es femenino: la elle, doble ele, plural es elles. En la mayoría de los países hispánicos se pronuncia como y. Es indivisible en la escritura. |
Where the eye mixes les and ll
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between les and ll
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: les is [les] while ll is [ˈl]. 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 character), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
les is recorded at frequency rank #101, classified as apron, pronounced [les]. ll is at rank #15,141, tagged as acharacter, pronounced [ˈl].
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 15242, this pair ranks #280,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of les vs ll
Shared letters: l. Private to "les": es. Private to "ll": -.
"les" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "ll" · 2 letters · shape CC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "les" for "ll" ever safe?
Which is more common, "les" or "ll"?
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 "ll" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "les" and "ll" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lac vs ll". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #280,974 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.