lexvsloyTell them apart

Which to use

“lex” and “loy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,582
“lex” frequency rank
#44,027
“loy” frequency rank
63609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lex loy
Definition Loi écrite. Ancienne variante orthographique de loi.

Letter map: lex vs loy

Shared letters muted; letters that set lex and loy apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
lex
3 ch
loy

Pair insight - lex / loy

lex and loy are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lex is recorded at frequency rank #19,582, classified as anoun. loy is at rank #44,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lwa\.

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 63609, this pair ranks #81,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lex vs loy

Shared letters: l. Private to "lex": ex. Private to "loy": oy.

"lex" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "loy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lex" and "loy" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary French text, does "lex" or "loy" show up more?
"lex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,582 in our French list, against #44,027 for "loy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lex" and "loy".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lex" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,124 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lex" and "loy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #81,124 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list