lèguevsléguerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,472
“lègue” frequency rank
#32,473
“léguer” frequency rank
64945
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lègue léguer
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de léguer. Donner par testament ou par autre acte de dernière volonté.

Where the eye mixes lègue and léguer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lègue runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against léguer's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lègue
6 ch
léguer

Look-alike desk: lègue vs léguer

A purely visual mix-up. lègue (\lɛɡ\) and léguer (\le.ɡe\) 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 64945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lègue is recorded at frequency rank #32,472, classified as averb, pronounced \lɛɡ\. léguer is at rank #32,473, tagged as averb, pronounced \le.ɡe\.

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 64945, this pair ranks #74,607 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lègue vs léguer

Shared letters: eglu. Private to "lègue": è. Private to "léguer": ré.

"lègue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "léguer" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lègue" and "léguer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɛɡ\ versus \le.ɡe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "lègue" or "léguer" show up more?
"lègue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,472 in our French list, against #32,473 for "léguer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lègue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "léguer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,607 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lègue" and "léguer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lègue vs leste". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,607 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