lésésvslesterTell them apart

Which to use

“lésés” and “lester” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,943
“lésés” frequency rank
#20,774
“lester” frequency rank
57717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lésés lester
Definition Participe passé masculin pluriel de léser. Garnir de lest.

Where the eye mixes lésés and lester

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lésés runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against lester's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lésés
6 ch
lester

Visual trap between lésés and lester

A purely visual mix-up. lésés (\le.ze\) and lester (\lɛs.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lésés is recorded at frequency rank #36,943, classified as averb, pronounced \le.ze\. lester is at rank #20,774, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛs.te\.

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 57717, this pair ranks #113,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lésés vs lester

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lésés": é. Private to "lester": ert.

"lésés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lester" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lester ← elster · lesetr · lesster · lesterr · lestre · lestter · letser · llester

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lésés" and "lester" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\le.ze\ versus \lɛs.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lésés" or "lester"?
"lester" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,774 in our French list, against #36,943 for "lésés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lésés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lester" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lésés" and "lester" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lésés vs leste". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #113,372 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