least
\liːst\
The verdict
“least” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #42,429 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #42,429
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de leasen.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | least |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \liːst\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #42,429 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “least” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for least is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \liːst\. Corpus data places it at rank #42,429 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for least, with forms such as "elast", "laest", and "leasst". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "les", "lent", "lens", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is least, spelled L-E-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de leasen.
- 2Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de leasen.
- 3Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de leasen.
- 4Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de leasen.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elast,laest,leasst,leastt,leats,lesat,lleast
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of least - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “least”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is L-E-A-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \liːst\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “les” - see the side-by-side comparison. least vs les
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.