Which to use
“lacet” is a noun and “lâcha” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,015
- “lacet” frequency rank
- #44,554
- “lâcha” frequency rank
- 73569
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lacet | lâcha |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nœud coulant avec lequel on prend les perdrix, les lièvres, etc. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de lâcher. |
Where the eye mixes lacet and lâcha
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lacet (CVCVC) and lâcha (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses lacet with lâcha
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lacet is \la.sɛ\ while lâcha is \la.ʃa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lacet is recorded at frequency rank #29,015, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.sɛ\. lâcha is at rank #44,554, tagged as averb, pronounced \la.ʃa\.
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 73569, this pair ranks #40,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lacet vs lâcha
Shared letters: acl. Private to "lacet": et. Private to "lâcha": hâ.
"lacet" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lâcha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lacet ← alcet · laccet · lacett · lacte · laect · lcaet · llacet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lacet" for "lâcha" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lacet" vs "lâcha" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lacet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lâcha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lacet" and "lâcha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lâcha vs Lech". 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 #40,008 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.