Which to use
“la” and “le” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2
- “la” frequency rank
- #3
- “le” frequency rank
- 5
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | la | le |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de le. Détermine un groupe nominal féminin singulier. | Ce… dont on parle maintenant. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible dans un contexte. |
Where the eye mixes la and le
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. la (\la\) and le (\lə\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “la” becomes e in “le”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
la is recorded at frequency rank #2, classified as anarticle, pronounced \la\. le is at rank #3, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \lə\.
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 5, this pair ranks #440,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of la vs le
Shared letters: l. Private to "la": a. Private to "le": e.
"la" · 2 letters · shape CV · "le" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "la" and "le" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "la" or "le"?
What to do next
You've compared "la" and "le". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "la" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "le" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #440,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "la" and "le" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "le vs lep". Nearby pair
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.