leaks vs les, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“leaks” is a noun and “les” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,019
“leaks” frequency rank: #7
“les” frequency rank: 44026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	leaks	les
Definition	Pluriel de leak.	Pluriel de le ou la.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leaks and les apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

leaks

3 ch

les

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leaks is \ˈliks\ while les is \le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 44026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leaks is recorded at frequency rank #44,019, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈliks\. 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 44026, this pair ranks #213,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leaks vs les

Shared letters: els. Private to "leaks": ak. Private to "les": -.

"leaks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "les" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

leaks ← elaks · laeks · leakks · leakss · leask · lekas · lleaks

Frequency comparison

leaks#44,019

les#7

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leaks" and "les" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leaks" is a noun and "les" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "leaks" or "les"?

"les" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7 in our French list, against #44,019 for "leaks". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering leaks vs les

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “leaks”; for an article, it's “les”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leaks” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable