lepvsluesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,766
“lep” frequency rank
#26,789
“lues” frequency rank
76555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lep lues
Definition Beau, agréable. Féminin pluriel de lu.

Where the eye mixes lep and lues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lep runs 3 letters (CVC) against lues's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
lep
4 ch
lues

Why the eye confuses lep with lues

A purely visual mix-up. lep (\lɛːp\) and lues (\ly\) 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 76555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lep is recorded at frequency rank #49,766, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɛːp\. lues is at rank #26,789, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ly\.

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 76555, this pair ranks #30,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lep vs lues

Shared letters: el. Private to "lep": p. Private to "lues": su.

"lep" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lues ← leus · llues · luess · luse · ules

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lep" for "lues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɛːp\ versus \ly\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "lep" or "lues" show up more?
"lues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,789 in our French list, against #49,766 for "lep". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "lep" and "lues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,794 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lep" and "lues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lar 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 #30,794 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