Which to use
“légale” and “létale” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,249
- “légale” frequency rank
- #35,585
- “létale” frequency rank
- 39834
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légale | létale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de légal. | Féminin singulier de létal. |
Where the eye mixes légale and létale
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. légale and létale follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between légale and létale
A purely visual mix-up. légale (\le.ɡal\) and létale (\le.tal\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - g in “légale” becomes t in “létale”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39834, 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\. létale is at rank #35,585, tagged as anadj, pronounced \le.tal\.
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 39834, this pair ranks #245,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of légale vs létale
Shared letters: aelé. Private to "légale": g. Private to "létale": t.
"légale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "létale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "légale" and "létale" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "légale" vs "létale" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "légale" and "létale" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "légale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "létale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légale" and "létale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "létale vs levage". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #245,017 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.