Which to use
“légale” is an adjective and “légume” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,249
- “légale” frequency rank
- #17,474
- “légume” frequency rank
- 21723
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légale | légume |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de légal. | Toute sorte d’herbes potagères, de plantes, de racines, de graines comestibles. Organisme végétal considéré en tant qu’aliment et utilisé principalement dans des plats salés (par opposition aux fruits) et en quantité substantielle (par opposition aux épices et aux herbes) ; on y inclus parfois les champignons comestibles. |
Where the eye mixes légale and légume
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. légale and légume follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses légale with légume
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: légale is \le.ɡal\ while légume is \le.ɡym\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21723, 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\. légume is at rank #17,474, tagged as anoun, pronounced \le.ɡym\.
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 21723, this pair ranks #361,743 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of légale vs légume
Shared letters: eglé. Private to "légale": a. Private to "légume": mu.
"légale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "légume" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "légale" and "légume" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "légale" vs "légume" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "légale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "légume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,743 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légale" and "légume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "légume vs lemme". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #361,743 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.