Which to use
“lais” is a noun and “lez” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,862
- “lais” frequency rank
- #21,063
- “lez” frequency rank
- 62925
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lais | lez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Jeune baliveau de l’âge du bois, qu’on laisse quand on coupe le taillis, afin qu’il vienne en haute futaie. | À côté de, proche de, tout contre. |
Same sound, different letters: lais vs lez
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter.
Ear matches; page differs - lais and lez
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: lais and lez carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lɛ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other apreposition, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62925, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lais is recorded at frequency rank #41,862, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ\. lez is at rank #21,063, tagged as aprep, pronounced \lɛ\.
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 62925, this pair ranks #84,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lais vs lez
Shared letters: l. Private to "lais": ais. Private to "lez": ez.
"lais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lez" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lais ← alis · laiss · lasi · llais
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lais" and "lez" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lais" or "lez" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "lais" / "lez". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "lais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #84,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lais" and "lez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs lais". 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 #84,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.