légèresvslégersWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,508
“légères” frequency rank
#7,587
“légers” frequency rank
17095
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature légères légers
Definition Féminin pluriel de léger. Masculin pluriel de léger.

Where the eye mixes légères and légers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. légères runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against légers's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
légères
6 ch
légers

Why the eye confuses légères with légers

A purely visual mix-up. légères (\le.ʒɛʁ\) and légers (\le.ʒe\) 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 17095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

légères is recorded at frequency rank #9,508, classified as anadj, pronounced \le.ʒɛʁ\. légers is at rank #7,587, tagged as anadj, pronounced \le.ʒe\.

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 17095, this pair ranks #384,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of légères vs légers

Shared letters: eglrsé. Private to "légères": è. Private to "légers": -.

"légères" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "légers" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "légères" for "légers" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\le.ʒɛʁ\ versus \le.ʒe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "légères" vs "légers" - which ranks higher?
"légers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,587 in our French list, against #9,508 for "légères". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "légères" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "légers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #384,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "légères" and "légers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "légères vs Legros". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #384,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list