lemvslexConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#40,348
“lem” frequency rank
#19,582
“lex” frequency rank
59930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lem lex
Definition Membre, partie du corps. Loi écrite.

Letter map: lem vs lex

Shared letters muted; letters that set lem and lex apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
lem
3 ch
lex

Pair insight - lem / lex

lem and lex 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 - m in “lem” becomes x in “lex”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lem is recorded at frequency rank #40,348, classified as anoun. lex is at rank #19,582, 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 59930, this pair ranks #100,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lem vs lex

Shared letters: el. Private to "lem": m. Private to "lex": x.

"lem" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lem" and "lex" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by a single letter - m in “lem” becomes x in “lex”, 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 "lem" or "lex" show up more?
"lex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,582 in our French list, against #40,348 for "lem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lem" and "lex".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lem" and "lex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lem vs lep". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #100,402 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