Which to use
“légat” and “lest” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,638
- “légat” frequency rank
- #27,865
- “lest” frequency rank
- 56503
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légat | lest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ambassadeur, lieutenant d’un commandant d'armée, ou haut fonctionnaire romain. | Pierres, sable ou autres matières pesantes dont on charge le fond d’un bateau pour lui donner la stabilité convenable, en le faisant suffisamment entrer dans l’eau. |
Where the eye mixes légat and lest
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between légat and lest
A purely visual mix-up. légat (\le.ɡa\) and lest (\lɛst\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
légat is recorded at frequency rank #28,638, classified as anoun, pronounced \le.ɡa\. lest is at rank #27,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛst\.
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 56503, this pair ranks #120,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of légat vs lest
Shared letters: lt. Private to "légat": agé. Private to "lest": es.
"légat" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lest" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lest ← elst · lesst · lestt · lets · llest · lset
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "légat" and "lest" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "légat" or "lest"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "légat" and "lest" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "légat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #120,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légat" and "lest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lest". 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 #120,705 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.