Which to use
“leak” is a noun and “les” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,893
- “leak” frequency rank
- #7
- “les” frequency rank
- 38900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leak | les |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fuite d’informations confidentielles. | Pluriel de le ou la. |
Where the eye mixes leak and les
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. leak runs 4 letters (CVVC) against les's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between leak and les
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leak is \lik\ while les is \le\. 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 (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leak is recorded at frequency rank #38,893, classified as anoun, pronounced \lik\. les is at rank #7, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \le\.
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 38900, this pair ranks #251,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leak vs les
Shared letters: el. Private to "leak": ak. Private to "les": s.
"leak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "les" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- leak ← elak · leakk · leka · lleak
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leak" and "les" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leak" or "les"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "leak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "les" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #251,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leak" and "les" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leak vs lep". 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 #251,997 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.