le

\lə\

/\lə\/ article

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“le” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3) as an article. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Ce… dont on parle maintenant. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible dans un contexte.

Corpus desk

Index FR-le · le · French

le · rank #3 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #3
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH la

Nearest frequency peer: la (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “le”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “le” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

le vs Lu
0% similar
le vs Li
0% similar
le vs LR
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for le
PropertyValue
Headwordle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechArticle
IPA\lə\
Letters2
Frequency rank#3
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “le” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). le lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for le is neighbouring look-alikes ("Lu", "Li", …), not just typos; it is anarticle pronounced \lə\. Frequency #3 among 2,567 “L” headwords. 8 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for le in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Lu", "Li", "LR", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is le, spelled L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce… dont on parle maintenant. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible dans un contexte.
  2. 2
    Le seul. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible par définition.
  3. 3
    (Sujet d’une proposition) Tout, sans exception.
  4. 4
    (Le + nom propre) Marquant une vaste région comme un pays, un continent, une province ou un État, ou un cours d’eau.
  5. 5
    (Le + nom propre) Marquant un nom propre dont le noyau est issu d’un nom commun.
  6. 6
    (Le + nom commun + nom propre) Attribut du nom propre suivant.
  7. 7
    (Prénom + le + attribut) Surnom du prénom précédent.
  8. 8
    (Le premier, le + numéro de 2 à 31) Le jour du mois, sans jour de la semaine. Note d’usage : Peut fonctionner comme adverbe de temps.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how le appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le petit chat dort sur le canapé.
  2. Le drapeau des États-Unis.

This word in other languages

the(English)el(Español)der(Deutsch)o(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "le"?
"le" is spelled L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \lə\.
What does "le" mean?
As an article, "le" means: Ce… dont on parle maintenant. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible dans un contexte.
What words are commonly confused with "le"?
"le" is commonly confused with "Lu", "Li", "LR". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "le"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "le" is \lə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "le" come from?
"le" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list