leaksvslésésConfusable pair

Quick tell: leaks is a noun, lésés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#44,019
“leaks” frequency rank
#36,943
“lésés” frequency rank
80962
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaks lésés
Definition Pluriel de leak. Participe passé masculin pluriel de léser.

Where the eye mixes leaks and lésés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. leaks (CVVCC) and lésés (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
leaks
5 ch
lésés

Look-alike desk: leaks vs lésés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leaks is \ˈliks\ while lésés is \le.ze\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80962, 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\. lésés is at rank #36,943, tagged as averb, pronounced \le.ze\.

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 80962, this pair ranks #19,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of leaks vs lésés

Shared letters: ls. Private to "leaks": aek. Private to "lésés": é.

"leaks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "lésés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leaks" and "lésés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leaks" is a noun and "lésés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "leaks" vs "lésés" - which ranks higher?
"lésés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,943 in our French list, against #44,019 for "leaks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "leaks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lésés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leaks" and "lésés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leaks vs levais". 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 #19,765 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