Which to use
“less” is an adverb and “let's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,199
- “less” frequency rank
- #23,474
- “let's” frequency rank
- 56673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | less | let's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Menos. | Usado para formar el cohortativo de los verbos, equivalente a la primera persona plural del imperativo en otros idiomas; "vamos a + infinitivo". |
Where the eye mixes less and let's
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. less and let's follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between less and let's
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: less is /lɛs/ while let's is /lɛts/. 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 (adverb vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
less is recorded at frequency rank #33,199, classified as anadv, pronounced /lɛs/. let's is at rank #23,474, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /lɛts/.
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 56673, this pair ranks #73,607 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of less vs let's
Shared letters: els. Private to "less": -. Private to "let's": t.
"less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "let's" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- less ← elss · lless · lses
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "less" and "let's" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "less" vs "let's" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "less" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "let's" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,607 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "less" and "let's" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "less 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 #73,607 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.