lancer

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"lancer" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“lancer” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #34,953. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#34,953
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cavalry soldier armed with a lance weapon.

Corpus desk

Index EN-lancer · lancer · English

lancer · rank #34,953 · 9 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #34,953
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kraken

Nearest frequency peer: Kraken (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “lancer”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “lancer” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lancer vs lane
67% similar
lancer vs later
67% similar
lancer vs layer
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lancer
PropertyValue
Headwordlancer
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#34,953
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “lancer”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).lancerlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Kraken” (#34,952), “landau” (#34,954), “Konrad” (#34,951). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lancer” is #34,953. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around lancer, anoun. Corpus frequency is #34,953 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for lancer, with forms such as "alncer", "lacner", and "lanccer". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lane", "later", "layer", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French lancier (“lancer”). The correct English form is lancer, spelled L-A-N-C-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A cavalry soldier armed with a lance weapon.
  2. 2
    Any of various Asian hesperiid butterflies of the genus Plastingia.
  3. 3
    One who lances something.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how lancer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The evolutional descendants of those early shavers of beards and lancers of boils have made good (and, perhaps, nearly exclusive) use of the title […]

Etymology

From French lancier (“lancer”).

Synonyms

uhlan

This word in other languages

lancier(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • alncer
  • lacner
  • lanccer
  • lancerr
  • lancre
  • lanecr
  • lanncer
  • llancer
  • lnacer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lancer - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

alncer2lacner2lanccer1lancerr1lancre2lanecr2lanncer1llancer1
Edit distance from "lancer"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lancer"?
"lancer" is spelled L-A-N-C-E-R.
What does "lancer" mean?
As a noun, "lancer" means: A cavalry soldier armed with a lance weapon.
What words are commonly confused with "lancer"?
"lancer" is commonly confused with "lane", "later", "layer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "lancer"?
From French lancier (“lancer”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lancer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Kraken#34,952landau#34,954Konrad#34,951lauder#34,955

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

indict9 variantsmaggots9 variantsmicron9 variantsHeston9 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list