Which to use
“les” is an article and “lui” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7
- “les” frequency rank
- #68
- “lui” frequency rank
- 75
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | les | lui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de le ou la. | Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier épicène du complément d’objet indirect. |
Where the eye mixes les and lui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between les and lui
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: les is \le\ while lui is \lɥi\. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
les is recorded at frequency rank #7, classified as anarticle, pronounced \le\. lui is at rank #68, tagged as apron, pronounced \lɥi\.
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 75, this pair ranks #440,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of les vs lui
Shared letters: l. Private to "les": es. Private to "lui": iu.
"les" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "les" and "lui" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "les" vs "lui" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "les" and "lui" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "les" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #440,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "les" and "lui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lui". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #440,127 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.