Which to use
“leurs” is a determiner and “lors” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #126
- “leurs” frequency rank
- #222
- “lors” frequency rank
- 348
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leurs | lors |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel. Qui sont à eux. Plusieurs possesseurs et plusieurs objets. | Ce temps-là. S’emploie seulement en composition dans les locutions suivantes : |
Where the eye mixes leurs and lors
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses leurs with lors
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leurs is \lœʁ\ while lors is \lɔʁ\. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leurs is recorded at frequency rank #126, classified as adet, pronounced \lœʁ\. lors is at rank #222, tagged as anadv, pronounced \lɔʁ\.
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 348, this pair ranks #439,773 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leurs vs lors
Shared letters: lrs. Private to "leurs": eu. Private to "lors": o.
"leurs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "lors" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "leurs" and "lors" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "leurs" or "lors"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "leurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lors" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,773 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leurs" and "lors" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs lors". 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 #439,773 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.