Which to use
“laissent” is a verb and “less” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,934
- “laissent” frequency rank
- #30,688
- “less” frequency rank
- 34622
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laissent | less |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de laisser. | Moins, en quantité. |
Same sound, different letters: laissent vs less
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. laissent runs 8 letters (CVVCCVCC) against less's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: laissent vs less
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: laissent and less carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lɛs\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 4 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laissent is recorded at frequency rank #3,934, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛs\. less is at rank #30,688, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈlɛs\.
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 34622, this pair ranks #282,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laissent vs less
Shared letters: els. Private to "laissent": aint. Private to "less": -.
"laissent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laissent" and "less" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "laissent" vs "less" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "laissent" / "less". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "laissent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "less" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laissent" and "less" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs less". 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 #282,536 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.