Which to use
“légère” is an adjective and “lèvre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,019
- “légère” frequency rank
- #13,423
- “lèvre” frequency rank
- 16442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légère | lèvre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de léger. | Partie extérieure et charnue qui borde la bouche, qui couvre les dents et qui aide à la formation des sons, à l’articulation des mots. Note d’usage : Très souvent employé au pluriel pour comprendre la lèvre supérieure et la lèvre inférieure. |
Where the eye mixes légère and lèvre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. légère runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against lèvre's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: légère vs lèvre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: légère is \le.ʒɛʁ\ while lèvre is \lɛvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
légère is recorded at frequency rank #3,019, classified as anadj, pronounced \le.ʒɛʁ\. lèvre is at rank #13,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛvʁ\.
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 16442, this pair ranks #387,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of légère vs lèvre
Shared letters: elrè. Private to "légère": gé. Private to "lèvre": v.
"légère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "lèvre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "légère" for "lèvre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "légère" or "lèvre"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "légère" and "lèvre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "légère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lèvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légère" and "lèvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lèvre vs Livry". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #387,828 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.