lemmevslesteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#48,640
“lemme” frequency rank
#49,192
“leste” frequency rank
97832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lemme leste
Definition Proposition dont la démonstration est nécessaire pour une autre proposition qui doit la suivre. Qui a de la facilité, de la légèreté dans ses mouvements.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lemme and leste apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
lemme
5 ch
leste

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lemme is \lɛm\ while leste is \lɛst\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 97832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lemme is recorded at frequency rank #48,640, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛm\. leste is at rank #49,192, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɛst\.

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 97832, this pair ranks #247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lemme vs leste

Shared letters: el. Private to "lemme": m. Private to "leste": st.

"lemme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "leste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lemmeelmme · leme · lemem · llemme · lmeme
  • lesteelste · leset · lesste · lestte · letse · lleste · lsete

Frequency comparison

lemme#48,640
leste#49,192

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lemme" and "leste" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lemme" is a noun and "leste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lemme" or "leste"?
"lemme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #48,640 in our French list, against #49,192 for "leste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lemme vs leste

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lemme”; for an adjective, it's “leste”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lemme” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list