Which to use
“lancer” and “lances” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,953
- “lancer” frequency rank
- #48,314
- “lances” frequency rank
- 83267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lancer | lances |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A cavalry soldier armed with a lance weapon. | plural of lance |
Letter map: lancer vs lances
Shared letters muted; letters that set lancer and lances apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. lancer and lances follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Corpus notes: lancer and lances
lancer and lances are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - r in “lancer” becomes s in “lances”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lancer is recorded at frequency rank #34,953, classified as anoun. lances is at rank #48,314, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlænsɪz/.
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 83267, this pair ranks #14,149 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lancer vs lances
Shared letters: aceln. Private to "lancer": r. Private to "lances": s.
"lancer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lancer" and "lances" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lancer" or "lances" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "lancer" vs "lances" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "lancer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,149 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lancer" and "lances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lances vs Laney". 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 #14,149 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.