Which to use
“lay” is an adjective and “ler” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,500
- “lay” frequency rank
- #41,868
- “ler” frequency rank
- 69368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lay | ler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de lé. | Pin. |
Letter map: lay vs ler
Shared letters muted; letters that set lay and ler apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Role in the sentence - lay and ler
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lay is anadjective and leranoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lay is recorded at frequency rank #27,500, classified as anadj. ler is at rank #41,868, tagged as anoun.
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 69368, this pair ranks #55,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lay vs ler
Shared letters: l. Private to "lay": ay. Private to "ler": er.
"lay" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lay" for "ler" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lay" or "ler"?
After this comparison
Pair "lay" vs "ler" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "lay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lay" and "ler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs ler". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #55,391 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.