leavsluiWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“lea” and “lui” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,375
“lea” frequency rank
#68
“lui” frequency rank
21443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lea lui
Definition Pronom représentant la personne dont on parle et dont le genre est inconnu ou non-binaire. Utilisé en tant que complément d’objet direct. Devant un son vocalique (voyelle ou h muet), le ea est généralement élidé et le pronom se transforme en l’. Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier épicène du complément d’objet indirect.

Where the eye mixes lea and lui

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
lea
3 ch
lui

Look-alike desk: lea vs lui

A purely visual mix-up. lea (\lə.a\) and lui (\lɥi\) 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 21443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lea is recorded at frequency rank #21,375, classified as apron, pronounced \lə.a\. lui is at rank #68, tagged as apron, pronounced \lɥi\.

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 21443, this pair ranks #363,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lea vs lui

Shared letters: l. Private to "lea": ae. Private to "lui": iu.

"lea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lea" and "lui" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lə.a\ versus \lɥi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lea" vs "lui" - which ranks higher?
"lui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #68 in our French list, against #21,375 for "lea". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lea" and "lui" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #363,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lea" and "lui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lea vs lep". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #363,147 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