Which to use
“laisse” and “liesse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #555
- “laisse” frequency rank
- #31,121
- “liesse” frequency rank
- 31676
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laisse | liesse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corde ou lanière dont on se sert pour mener un chien seul ou des chiens attachés ensemble. | Joie débordante et collective. |
Where the eye mixes laisse and liesse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laisse and liesse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between laisse and liesse
A purely visual mix-up. laisse (\lɛs\) and liesse (\ljɛs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laisse is recorded at frequency rank #555, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛs\. liesse is at rank #31,121, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ljɛs\.
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 31676, this pair ranks #302,298 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laisse vs liesse
Shared letters: eils. Private to "laisse": a. Private to "liesse": -.
"laisse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "liesse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laisse" and "liesse" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "laisse" or "liesse" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "laisse" and "liesse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laisse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "liesse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,298 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laisse" and "liesse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leste vs liesse". 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 #302,298 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.