lesvslolWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7
“les” frequency rank
#2,626
“lol” frequency rank
2633
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature les lol
Definition Pluriel de le ou la. Formule qui est principalement utilisée à l’écrit (par Internet puis par SMS) et qui indique que son auteur est en train de rire ou est très amusé.

Where the eye mixes les and lol

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
les
3 ch
lol

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: les is \le\ while lol is \lɔl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

les is recorded at frequency rank #7, classified as anarticle, pronounced \le\. lol is at rank #2,626, tagged as anintj, pronounced \lɔl\.

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 2633, this pair ranks #435,752 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of les vs lol

Shared letters: l. Private to "les": es. Private to "lol": o.

"les" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "les" and "lol" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "les" is an article and "lol" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "les" or "lol"?
"les" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7 in our French list, against #2,626 for "lol". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list