# L1 vs L2

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### L1
*noun · frequency rank #24,220*
A mother tongue; someone's native language; own language.

### L2
*noun · frequency rank #24,492*
A second language (a language being learned, as opposed to a mother tongue).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/l1-vs-l2