Which to use
“légales” and “locales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,265
- “légales” frequency rank
- #2,526
- “locales” frequency rank
- 10791
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légales | locales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de légal. | Féminin pluriel de local. |
Where the eye mixes légales and locales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses légales with locales
A purely visual mix-up. légales (\le.ɡal\) and locales (\lɔ.kal\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
légales is recorded at frequency rank #8,265, classified as anadj, pronounced \le.ɡal\. locales is at rank #2,526, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɔ.kal\.
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 10791, this pair ranks #411,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of légales vs locales
Shared letters: aels. Private to "légales": gé. Private to "locales": co.
"légales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "locales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- locales ← lcoales · llocales · loacles · locaels · localess · localles · localse · loccales
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "légales" and "locales" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "légales" or "locales" show up more?
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 "légales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légales" and "locales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locales vs louables". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #411,642 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.