lervslessWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#41,868
“ler” frequency rank
#30,688
“less” frequency rank
72556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ler less
Definition Pin. Moins, en quantité.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ler and less apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ler
4 ch
less

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ler is anoun and lessanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ler is recorded at frequency rank #41,868, classified as anoun. less is at rank #30,688, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈlɛs\.

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 72556, this pair ranks #43,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ler vs less

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

"ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lesselss · lless · lses

Frequency comparison

ler#41,868
less#30,688

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ler" and "less" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ler" is a noun and "less" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ler" or "less"?
"less" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,688 in our French list, against #41,868 for "ler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ler vs less

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ler”; for an adjective, it's “less”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ler” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list