laissesvslessConfusable pair

Quick tell: laisses is a noun, less is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“laisses” is a noun and “less” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,184
“laisses” frequency rank
#30,688
“less” frequency rank
40872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laisses less
Definition Pluriel de laisse. Moins, en quantité.

Same sound, different letters: laisses vs less

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.

7 ch
laisses
4 ch
less

Same sound, different spelling - laisses / less

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: laisses and less carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lɛs\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 3 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laisses is recorded at frequency rank #10,184, classified as anoun, 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 40872, this pair ranks #237,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laisses vs less

Shared letters: els. Private to "laisses": ai. Private to "less": -.

"laisses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laissesalisses · laisess · laissess · laissse · lasises · llaisses
  • lesselss · lless · lses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laisses" and "less" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laisses" is a noun and "less" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "laisses" or "less"?
"laisses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,184 in our French list, against #30,688 for "less". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laisses" 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 #237,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laisses" 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 #237,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list