lentvslexConfusable pair

Quick tell: lent is a adjective, lex is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,840
“lent” frequency rank
#19,582
“lex” frequency rank
26422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lent lex
Definition Qui n’est pas rapide dans ses mouvements, dans ses actions, qui n’agit pas avec promptitude. Loi écrite.

Letter map: lent vs lex

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

4 ch
lent
3 ch
lex

Role in the sentence - lent and lex

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lent is anadjective and lexanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26422, 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\. 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 26422, this pair ranks #335,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lent vs lex

Shared letters: el. Private to "lent": nt. Private to "lex": x.

"lent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lentelnt · lennt · lentt · letn · llent · lnet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lent" and "lex" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lent" is an adjective and "lex" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "lent" or "lex" show up more?
"lent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,840 in our French list, against #19,582 for "lex". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lent" 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 #335,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lent" and "lex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lex". 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 #335,108 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