Which to use
“légale” and “légales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,249
- “légale” frequency rank
- #8,265
- “légales” frequency rank
- 12514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légale | légales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de légal. | Féminin pluriel de légal. |
Same sound, different letters: légale vs légales
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. légale runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against légales's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: légale vs légales
This is the hard kind. légale and légales are pronounced identically (\le.ɡal\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “légale” sits inside “légales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
légale is recorded at frequency rank #4,249, classified as anadj, pronounced \le.ɡal\. légales is at rank #8,265, tagged as anadj, pronounced \le.ɡal\.
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 12514, this pair ranks #404,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of légale vs légales
Shared letters: aeglé. Private to "légale": -. Private to "légales": s.
"légale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "légales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "légale" and "légales" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "légale" or "légales" show up more?
What to do next
"légale" and "légales" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "légale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "légales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légale" and "légales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "légales vs létale". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #404,956 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.