lèguevsleurWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lègue is a verb, leur is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lègue” is a verb and “leur” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,472
“lègue” frequency rank
#72
“leur” frequency rank
32544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lègue leur
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de léguer. Qui est à eux ou à elles.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lègue and leur apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
lègue
4 ch
leur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lègue is \lɛɡ\ while leur is \lœʁ\. 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 (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32544, 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\. leur is at rank #72, tagged as adet, pronounced \lœʁ\.

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 32544, this pair ranks #296,577 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lègue vs leur

Shared letters: elu. Private to "lègue": . Private to "leur": r.

"lègue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "leur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leurelur · leru · leurr · lleur · luer

Frequency comparison

lègue#32,472
leur#72

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lègue" and "leur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lègue" is a verb and "leur" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lègue" or "leur"?
"leur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #72 in our French list, against #32,472 for "lègue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lègue vs leur

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lègue”; for a determiner, it's “leur”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lègue” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list