LecoqvsleoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#46,267
“Lecoq” frequency rank
#8,874
“leo” frequency rank
55141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lecoq leo
Definition Nom de famille. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de l’indicatif du verbe leañ/leiñ.

Where the eye mixes Lecoq and leo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Lecoq runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against leo's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Lecoq
3 ch
leo

Look-alike desk: Lecoq vs leo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lecoq is \lə.kɔk\ while leo is \ˈleː.o\. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55141, 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\. leo is at rank #8,874, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈleː.o\.

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 55141, this pair ranks #129,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lecoq vs leo

Shared letters: elo. Private to "Lecoq": cq. Private to "leo": -.

"Lecoq" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "leo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lecoq ← elcoq · lceoq · leccoq · lecoqq · lecqo · leocq · llecoq

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lecoq" and "leo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lecoq" is a name and "leo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lecoq" or "leo"?
"leo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,874 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.

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 "Lecoq" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "leo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lecoq" and "leo" 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 #129,428 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