lervslesConfusable pair

Quick tell: ler is a noun, les is an article, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ler” is a noun and “les” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,868
“ler” frequency rank
#7
“les” frequency rank
41875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ler les
Definition Pin. Pluriel de le ou la.

Letter map: ler vs les

Shared letters muted; letters that set ler and les apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
ler
3 ch
les

Grammar separator: ler vs les

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ler is anoun and lesanarticle. On the page they differ by a single letter - r in “ler” becomes s in “les”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ler is recorded at frequency rank #41,868, classified as anoun. les is at rank #7, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \le\.

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 41875, this pair ranks #229,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ler vs les

Shared letters: el. Private to "ler": r. Private to "les": s.

"ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "les" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ler" for "les" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ler" is a noun and "les" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ler" or "les"?
"les" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7 in our French list, against #41,868 for "ler". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ler" and "les".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "les" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #229,876 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ler" and "les" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs ler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #229,876 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