legervslégèreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“leger” and “légère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#32,883
“leger” frequency rank
#3,019
“légère” frequency rank
35902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leger légère
Definition Léger, décontracté, qualifie un habillement. Féminin singulier de léger.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leger and légère apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
leger
6 ch
légère

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. leger (\leˈʒɛːɐ̯\) and légère (\le.ʒɛʁ\) 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 35902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leger is recorded at frequency rank #32,883, classified as anadj, pronounced \leˈʒɛːɐ̯\. légère is at rank #3,019, tagged as anadj, pronounced \le.ʒɛʁ\.

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 35902, this pair ranks #273,395 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leger vs légère

Shared letters: eglr. Private to "leger": -. Private to "légère": èé.

"leger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "légère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • legerelger · leegr · legerr · legger · legre · lgeer · lleger

Frequency comparison

leger#32,883
légère#3,019

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leger" and "légère" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\leˈʒɛːɐ̯\ versus \le.ʒɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "leger" or "légère"?
"légère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,019 in our French list, against #32,883 for "leger". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering leger vs légère

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leger” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list