Which to use
“lai” is an adjective and “le” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,335
- “lai” frequency rank
- #3
- “le” frequency rank
- 19338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lai | le |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Laïc, convers. | Ce… dont on parle maintenant. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible dans un contexte. |
Where the eye mixes lai and le
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between lai and le
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lai is \lɛ\ while le is \lə\. 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 (adjective vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lai is recorded at frequency rank #19,335, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɛ\. 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 19338, this pair ranks #373,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lai vs le
Shared letters: l. Private to "lai": ai. Private to "le": e.
"lai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "le" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lai" for "le" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lai" or "le"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lai" and "le" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lai" 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 #373,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lai" and "le" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lai vs lep". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #373,759 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.