lemvslepWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: lem is a noun, lep is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lem” is a noun and “lep” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,348
“lem” frequency rank
#49,766
“lep” frequency rank
90114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lem lep
Definition Membre, partie du corps. Beau, agréable.

Letter map: lem vs lep

Shared letters muted; letters that set lem and lep apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. lem and lep follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
lem
3 ch
lep

Role in the sentence - lem and lep

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lem is anoun and lepanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “lem” becomes p in “lep”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lem is recorded at frequency rank #40,348, classified as anoun. lep is at rank #49,766, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɛːp\.

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 90114, this pair ranks #5,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lem vs lep

Shared letters: el. Private to "lem": m. Private to "lep": p.

"lem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lep" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lem" for "lep" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lem" is a noun and "lep" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lem" vs "lep" - which ranks higher?
"lem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,348 in our French list, against #49,766 for "lep". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "lem" and "lep". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lep" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,136 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lem" and "lep" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lar vs lep". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #5,136 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