Which to use
“leg” is a verb and “légat” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,893
- “leg” frequency rank
- #28,638
- “légat” frequency rank
- 66531
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leg | légat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’impératif à la forme active de legen. | Ambassadeur, lieutenant d’un commandant d'armée, ou haut fonctionnaire romain. |
Where the eye mixes leg and légat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. leg runs 3 letters (CVC) against légat's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses leg with légat
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leg is \leːk\ while légat is \le.ɡa\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leg is recorded at frequency rank #37,893, classified as averb, pronounced \leːk\. légat is at rank #28,638, tagged as anoun, pronounced \le.ɡa\.
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 66531, this pair ranks #67,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leg vs légat
Shared letters: gl. Private to "leg": e. Private to "légat": até.
"leg" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "légat" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leg" and "légat" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leg" or "légat"?
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 "leg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "légat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leg" and "légat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leg vs lep". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #67,413 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.