LecoqvslemonConfusable pair

Quick tell: Lecoq is a name, lemon is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lecoq” is a name and “lemon” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,267
“Lecoq” frequency rank
#33,756
“lemon” frequency rank
80023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lecoq lemon
Definition Nom de famille. Citron jaune.

Where the eye mixes Lecoq and lemon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Lecoq and lemon follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Lecoq
5 ch
lemon

Visual trap between Lecoq and lemon

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lecoq is \lə.kɔk\ while lemon is \ˈlɛm.ən\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lecoq is recorded at frequency rank #46,267, classified as aname, pronounced \lə.kɔk\. lemon is at rank #33,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɛm.ən\.

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 80023, this pair ranks #21,924 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Lecoq vs lemon

Shared letters: elo. Private to "Lecoq": cq. Private to "lemon": mn.

"Lecoq" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lemon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lecoq ← elcoq · lceoq · leccoq · lecoqq · lecqo · leocq · llecoq
  • lemon ← elmon · lemmon · lemno · lemonn · leomn · llemon · lmeon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lecoq" for "lemon" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lecoq" is a name and "lemon" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lecoq" or "lemon"?
"lemon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,756 in our French list, against #46,267 for "Lecoq". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Lecoq" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lemon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,924 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lecoq" and "lemon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lech vs Lecoq". 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 #21,924 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