Which to use
“lace” is a verb and “lâché” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,860
- “lace” frequency rank
- #6,973
- “lâché” frequency rank
- 48833
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lace | lâché |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de lacer. | Quelque chose qui est négligé, qui manque de précision, de vigueur. |
Where the eye mixes lace and lâché
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lace runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lâché's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between lace and lâché
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lace is \las\ while lâché is \la.ʃe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lace is recorded at frequency rank #41,860, classified as averb, pronounced \las\. lâché is at rank #6,973, tagged as anadj, pronounced \la.ʃe\.
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 48833, this pair ranks #175,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lace vs lâché
Shared letters: cl. Private to "lace": ae. Private to "lâché": hâé.
"lace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lâché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lace ← lacce · lcae · llace
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lace" and "lâché" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lace" or "lâché" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lâché" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lace" and "lâché" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lace vs lago". 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 #175,691 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.