Which to use
“le” is an article and “lys” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3
- “le” frequency rank
- #14,079
- “lys” frequency rank
- 14082
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | le | lys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce… dont on parle maintenant. Déterminant marquant un nom masculin singulier, référant à une seule entité possible dans un contexte. | Genre de liliacées qui porte, sur une haute tige, des fleurs à trois pétales et trois sépales pétaloïdes. |
Where the eye mixes le and lys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: le vs lys
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: le is \lə\ while lys is \lis\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
le is recorded at frequency rank #3, classified as anarticle, pronounced \lə\. lys is at rank #14,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lis\.
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 14082, this pair ranks #398,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of le vs lys
Shared letters: l. Private to "le": e. Private to "lys": sy.
"le" · 2 letters · shape CV · "lys" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "le" and "lys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "le" vs "lys" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "le" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "le" and "lys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lys". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #398,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.