laine

\lɛn\

/\lɛn\/ noun

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

The verdict

“laine” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #6,711) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#6,711
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Poil long, assez fin et doux, qui croît sur la peau des moutons et de quelques autres mammifères herbivores comme les lapins angora, les chèvres mohair ou cachemire et les lamas.

Corpus desk

Index FR-laine · laine · French

laine · rank #6,711 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,711
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH jay

Nearest frequency peer: jay (-1 rank slots)

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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « laine »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « laine » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

laine vs lie
60% similar
laine vs lin
60% similar
laine vs loin
60% similar

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

Key facts for laine
PropertyValue
Headwordlaine
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\lɛn\
Letters5
Frequency rank#6,711
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « laine »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).lainese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « jay » (#6,710), « Lisa » (#6,712), « introduire » (#6,709). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « laine » est au #6,711. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for laine is neighbouring look-alikes ("lie", "lin", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \lɛn\. Frequency #6,711 among 2,567 “L” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for laine, with forms such as "laien", "lainne", and "lanie". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lie", "lin", "loin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is laine, spelled L-A-I-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Poil long, assez fin et doux, qui croît sur la peau des moutons et de quelques autres mammifères herbivores comme les lapins angora, les chèvres mohair ou cachemire et les lamas.
  2. 2
    Fil obtenu à partir de ce poil pour être tissé, tricoté.
  3. 3
    Vêtement obtenu à partir de ce fil et qui tient chaud.
  4. 4
    Poil long qui recouvre certaines parties de plantes.
  5. 5
    Cheveux épais et crépus.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Les moutons transhumants portent, attachés leur laine, de nombreuses graines de la plaine vers la montagne et surtout de la montagne vers la plaine ; […].
  2. La laine est le poil de différents animaux : majoritairement mouton, mais aussi chèvre (races Angora ou Mohair, Kashmir), petits camélidés (alpaga, vigogne et lama) et grands camélidés (dromadaire et chameau).

This word in other languages

wool(English)lana(Español)Wolle(Deutsch)lã(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • laien
  • lainne
  • lanie
  • llaine

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

laien2lainne1lanie2llaine1
Edit distance from "laine"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "laine"?
"laine" is spelled L-A-I-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is \lɛn\.
What does "laine" mean?
As a noun, "laine" means: Poil long, assez fin et doux, qui croît sur la peau des moutons et de quelques autres mammifères herbivores comme les lapins angora, les chèvres mohair ou cachemire et les lamas.
What words are commonly confused with "laine"?
"laine" is commonly confused with "lie", "lin", "loin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "laine"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "laine" is \lɛn\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "laine" come from?
"laine" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Hervé#6,707grade#6,705frigo#6,703press#6,731

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list