Which to use
“leur” is a determiner and “lez” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #72
- “leur” frequency rank
- #21,063
- “lez” frequency rank
- 21135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leur | lez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est à eux ou à elles. | À côté de, proche de, tout contre. |
Where the eye mixes leur and lez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: leur vs lez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leur is \lœʁ\ while lez is \lɛ\. 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 (determiner vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leur is recorded at frequency rank #72, classified as adet, pronounced \lœʁ\. lez is at rank #21,063, tagged as aprep, pronounced \lɛ\.
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 21135, this pair ranks #364,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leur vs lez
Shared letters: el. Private to "leur": ru. Private to "lez": z.
"leur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lez" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- leur ← elur · leru · leurr · lleur · luer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leur" for "lez" ever safe?
Which is more common, "leur" or "lez"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "leur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leur" and "lez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lez". 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 #364,675 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.