leivslerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,248
“lei” frequency rank
#41,868
“ler” frequency rank
72116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lei ler
Definition Pluriel de leu. Pin.

Letter map: lei vs ler

Shared letters muted; letters that set lei and ler apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. lei (CVV) and ler (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
lei
3 ch
ler

Spelling & dictionary notes on lei vs ler

lei and ler are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - i in “lei” becomes r in “ler”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lei is recorded at frequency rank #30,248, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛj\. ler is at rank #41,868, tagged as anoun.

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 72116, this pair ranks #45,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lei vs ler

Shared letters: el. Private to "lei": i. Private to "ler": r.

"lei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lei" and "ler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by a single letter - i in “lei” becomes r in “ler”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary French text, does "lei" or "ler" show up more?
"lei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,248 in our French list, against #41,868 for "ler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "lei" vs "ler" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,137 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lei" and "ler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs ler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,137 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