Which to use
“lessive” and “lessives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,668
- “lessive” frequency rank
- #47,424
- “lessives” frequency rank
- 63092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lessive | lessives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Eau chaude que l’on verse sur du linge à blanchir, qui est entassé dans un cuvier et sur lequel on a mis un lit de soude, de potasse ou de cendre de bois. | Pluriel de lessive. |
Where the eye mixes lessive and lessives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lessive and lessives
A purely visual mix-up. lessive (\lɛ.siv\) and lessives (\le.siv\) 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 extra letter(s) - “lessive” sits inside “lessives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lessive is recorded at frequency rank #15,668, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ.siv\. lessives is at rank #47,424, tagged as anoun, pronounced \le.siv\.
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 63092, this pair ranks #83,761 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lessive vs lessives
Shared letters: eilsv. Private to "lessive": -. Private to "lessives": -.
"lessive" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "lessives" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lessive" for "lessives" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lessive" vs "lessives" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lessive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lessives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,761 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lessive" and "lessives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lesdites vs lessives". 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 #83,761 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.