Which to use
“lui” is a pronoun and “luis” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #68
- “lui” frequency rank
- #6,627
- “luis” frequency rank
- 6695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lui | luis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier épicène du complément d’objet indirect. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de luire. |
Same sound, different letters: lui vs luis
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - lui and luis
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: lui and luis carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lɥi\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is apronoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “lui” sits inside “luis”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lui is recorded at frequency rank #68, classified as apron, pronounced \lɥi\. luis is at rank #6,627, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɥi\.
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 6695, this pair ranks #425,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lui vs luis
Shared letters: ilu. Private to "lui": -. Private to "luis": s.
"lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "luis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- luis ← lius · lluis · luiss · lusi · ulis
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lui" and "luis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lui" or "luis" show up more?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "lui" / "luis". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "lui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "luis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,508 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lui" and "luis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "luis vs lure". 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 #425,508 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.