lésés vs lèvres, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lésés” is a verb and “lèvres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,943
“lésés” frequency rank: #2,934
“lèvres” frequency rank: 39877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lésés	lèvres
Definition	Participe passé masculin pluriel de léser.	Pluriel de lèvre.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

lésés

6 ch

lèvres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lésés is \le.ze\ while lèvres is \lɛvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39877, 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\. lèvres is at rank #2,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛvʁ\.

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 39877, this pair ranks #244,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lésés vs lèvres

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lésés": é. Private to "lèvres": ervè.

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

Frequency comparison

lésés#36,943

lèvres#2,934

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lésés" and "lèvres" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "lésés" or "lèvres"?

"lèvres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,934 in our French list, against #36,943 for "lésés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lésés vs lèvres

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lésés”; for a noun, it's “lèvres”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lésés” entry
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