Which to use
“lenteur” and “letter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,426
- “lenteur” frequency rank
- #37,407
- “letter” frequency rank
- 52833
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lenteur | letter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manque de rapidité dans le mouvement et dans l’action. | Lettre, caractère. |
Where the eye mixes lenteur and letter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lenteur vs letter
A purely visual mix-up. lenteur (\lɑ̃.tœʁ\) and letter (\ˈlɛt.ə(ɹ)\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lenteur is recorded at frequency rank #15,426, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃.tœʁ\. letter is at rank #37,407, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɛt.ə(ɹ)\.
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 52833, this pair ranks #144,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lenteur vs letter
Shared letters: elrt. Private to "lenteur": nu. Private to "letter": -.
"lenteur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "letter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lenteur" for "letter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lenteur" vs "letter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lenteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "letter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #144,947 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lenteur" and "letter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leste vs letter". 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 #144,947 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.