ler vs leurs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#41,868
“ler” frequency rank: #126
“leurs” frequency rank: 41994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ler	leurs
Definition	Pin.	Troisième personne du pluriel. Qui sont à eux. Plusieurs possesseurs et plusieurs objets.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ler and leurs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

ler

5 ch

leurs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ler is anoun and leursadeterminer. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ler is recorded at frequency rank #41,868, classified as anoun. leurs is at rank #126, tagged as adet, pronounced \lœʁ\.

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 41994, this pair ranks #229,000 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ler vs leurs

Shared letters: elr. Private to "ler": -. Private to "leurs": su.

"ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "leurs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

leurs ← elurs · lerus · leurrs · leurss · leusr · lleurs · luers

Frequency comparison

ler#41,868

leurs#126

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ler" and "leurs" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ler" is a noun and "leurs" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ler" or "leurs"?

"leurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #126 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.

Remembering ler vs leurs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ler”; for a determiner, it's “leurs”.
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