légères vs levées, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#9,508
“légères” frequency rank: #17,750
“levées” frequency rank: 27258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	légères	levées
Definition	Féminin pluriel de léger.	Féminin pluriel de levé.

Where the eye mixes légères and levées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. légères runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against levées's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch

légères

6 ch

levées

Visual trap between légères and levées

A purely visual mix-up. légères (\le.ʒɛʁ\) and levées (\lə.ve\) 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 27258, 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\. levées is at rank #17,750, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lə.ve\.

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 27258, this pair ranks #330,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of légères vs levées

Shared letters: elsé. Private to "légères": grè. Private to "levées": v.

"légères" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "levées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "légères" for "levées" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (\le.ʒɛʁ\ versus \lə.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "légères" or "levées"?

"légères" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,508 in our French list, against #17,750 for "levées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "légères" and "levées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "légères" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "levées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #330,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"légères" and "levées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "levais vs levées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #330,157 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.