liesvslogsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,660
“lies” frequency rank
#47,431
“logs” frequency rank
72091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lies logs
Definition Pluriel de lie. Pluriel de log.

Where the eye mixes lies and logs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lies (CVVC) and logs (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
lies
4 ch
logs

Visual trap between lies and logs

A purely visual mix-up. lies (\li\) and logs (\lɔɡ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lies is recorded at frequency rank #24,660, classified as anoun, pronounced \li\. logs is at rank #47,431, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔɡ\.

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 72091, this pair ranks #45,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lies vs logs

Shared letters: ls. Private to "lies": ei. Private to "logs": go.

"lies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "logs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lies ← leis · liess · llies
  • logs ← lgos · llogs · loggs · logss · losg · olgs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lies" for "logs" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\li\ versus \lɔɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lies" or "logs"?
"lies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,660 in our French list, against #47,431 for "logs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "logs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lies" and "logs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "logs vs longo". 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 #45,244 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