Which to use
“lance” and “lince” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,732
- “lance” frequency rank
- #26,906
- “lince” frequency rank
- 40638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lance | lince |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En el poema dramático y en la novela, suceso, acontecimiento, situación interesante o notable. | Mamífero carnívoro de la familia félidos, muy parecido al gato montés. |
Where the eye mixes lance and lince
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lance vs lince
A purely visual mix-up. lance ([ˈlãnse]) and lince ([ˈlĩnse]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “lance” becomes i in “lince”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40638, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lance is recorded at frequency rank #13,732, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlãnse]. lince is at rank #26,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlĩnse].
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 40638, this pair ranks #158,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lance vs lince
Shared letters: celn. Private to "lance": a. Private to "lince": i.
"lance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "lince" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lance" for "lince" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "lance" or "lince" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lance" and "lince" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lince" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #158,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lance" and "lince" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lince vs livre". 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 #158,009 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.