# lance

> English word · Noun · IPA /lɑːns/ · frequency rank #7,807

## Definitions
1. A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
2. A wooden spear, sometimes hollow, used in jousting or tilting, designed to shatter on impact with the opposing knight’s armour.
3. A spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen.
4. A soldier armed with a lance; a lancer.
5. An instrument which conveys the charge of a piece of ordnance and forces it home.
6. A small iron rod which suspends the core of the mold in casting a shell.
7. One of the small paper cases filled with combustible composition, which mark the outlines of a figure.
8. A lancet.
9. A piece in the game of shogi that can move directly forward any number of squares.

## Etymology
From Middle English launce, from Old French lance, from Latin lancea.

## Easily confused with
- **line** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-line)
- **late** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-late)
- **land** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-land)
- **lane** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lane)
- **lone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lone)
- **lang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lang)
- **lice** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lice)
- **luce** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-luce)
- **large** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-large)
- **lunch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lunch)
- **lands** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lands)
- **lanes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lanes)
- **lynch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lynch)
- **Lanka** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lanka)
- **lapse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lapse)
- **latch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-latch)
- **latte** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-latte)
- **Laude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-laude)
- **lathe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lathe)
- **lunge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lance-vs-lunge)

## Common misspellings (8)
`alnce`, `lacne`, `lancce`, `lanec`, `lannce`, `lence`, `llance`, `lnace`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/lance