Which to use
“légion” and “légions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,410
- “légion” frequency rank
- #17,757
- “légions” frequency rank
- 24167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | légion | légions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corps d’infanterie romaine ayant varié de quatre mille soldats sous la République romaine à six mille sous le Haut-Empire et environ mille au Bas-Empire, commandé par un légat de rang sénatorial. | Pluriel de légion. |
Same sound, different letters: légion vs légions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. légion runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against légions's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - légion and légions
This is the hard kind. légion and légions are pronounced identically (\le.ʒjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “légion” sits inside “légions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
légion is recorded at frequency rank #6,410, classified as anoun, pronounced \le.ʒjɔ̃\. légions is at rank #17,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced \le.ʒjɔ̃\.
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 24167, this pair ranks #348,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of légion vs légions
Shared letters: gilnoé. Private to "légion": -. Private to "légions": s.
"légion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "légions" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "légion" for "légions" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "légion" or "légions" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "légion" / "légions". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "légion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "légions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #348,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "légion" and "légions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "légions vs Legros". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #348,194 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.