Which to use
“lent” is an adjective and “leur” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,840
- “lent” frequency rank
- #72
- “leur” frequency rank
- 6912
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lent | leur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas rapide dans ses mouvements, dans ses actions, qui n’agit pas avec promptitude. | Qui est à eux ou à elles. |
Where the eye mixes lent and leur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lent with leur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lent is \lɑ̃\ while leur is \lœʁ\. 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 (adjective vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lent is recorded at frequency rank #6,840, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɑ̃\. 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 6912, this pair ranks #424,846 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lent vs leur
Shared letters: el. Private to "lent": nt. Private to "leur": ru.
"lent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "leur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lent" and "leur" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lent" or "leur" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,846 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lent" and "leur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lent vs lep". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #424,846 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.