Which to use
“leur” is a determiner and “lier” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #72
- “leur” frequency rank
- #10,528
- “lier” frequency rank
- 10600
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leur | lier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est à eux ou à elles. | Serrer avec une corde ou avec toute autre chose flexible. |
Where the eye mixes leur and lier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses leur with lier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leur is \lœʁ\ while lier is \li.je\. 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 (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leur is recorded at frequency rank #72, classified as adet, pronounced \lœʁ\. lier is at rank #10,528, tagged as averb, pronounced \li.je\.
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 10600, this pair ranks #412,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leur vs lier
Shared letters: elr. Private to "leur": u. Private to "lier": i.
"leur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "leur" and "lier" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "leur" or "lier"?
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 "lier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leur" and "lier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lier vs Livry". 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 #412,366 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.