Which to use
“leg” is a verb and “les” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,893
- “leg” frequency rank
- #7
- “les” frequency rank
- 37900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leg | les |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’impératif à la forme active de legen. | Pluriel de le ou la. |
Where the eye mixes leg and les
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses leg with les
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leg is \leːk\ while les is \le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “leg” becomes s in “les”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37900, 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\. les is at rank #7, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \le\.
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 37900, this pair ranks #259,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leg vs les
Shared letters: el. Private to "leg": g. Private to "les": s.
"leg" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "les" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leg" for "les" ever safe?
Frequency check: "leg" vs "les" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "leg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "les" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #259,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leg" and "les" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leg vs lep". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #259,176 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.