Which to use
“lebon” is an adverb and “légion” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,867
- “lebon” frequency rank
- #6,410
- “légion” frequency rank
- 48277
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lebon | légion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dans la nudité, de façon nue. | Corps d’infanterie romaine ayant varié de quatre mille soldats sous la République romaine à six mille sous le Haut-Empire et environ mille au Bas-Empire, commandé par un légat de rang sénatorial. |
Where the eye mixes lebon and légion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lebon runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against légion's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lebon with légion
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lebon is \lɛˈbɔn\ while légion is \le.ʒjɔ̃\. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lebon is recorded at frequency rank #41,867, classified as anadv, pronounced \lɛˈbɔn\. légion is at rank #6,410, tagged as anoun, pronounced \le.ʒjɔ̃\.
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 48277, this pair ranks #180,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lebon vs légion
Shared letters: lno. Private to "lebon": be. Private to "légion": gié.
"lebon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "légion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lebon ← elbon · lbeon · lebbon · lebno · lebonn · leobn · llebon
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lebon" and "légion" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lebon" vs "légion" - which ranks higher?
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 "lebon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "légion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lebon" and "légion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lebon vs lobo". 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 #180,195 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.