lacetsvslaitsConfusable pair

Which to use

“lacets” and “laits” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,053
“lacets” frequency rank
#36,466
“laits” frequency rank
55519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lacets laits
Definition Pluriel de lacet. Pluriel de lait.

Where the eye mixes lacets and laits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lacets runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against laits's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
lacets
5 ch
laits

Look-alike desk: lacets vs laits

A purely visual mix-up. lacets (\la.sɛ\) and laits (\lɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lacets is recorded at frequency rank #19,053, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.sɛ\. laits is at rank #36,466, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛ\.

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 55519, this pair ranks #126,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lacets vs laits

Shared letters: alst. Private to "lacets": ce. Private to "laits": i.

"lacets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "laits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacets ← alcets · laccets · lacest · lacetss · lacetts · lactes · laects · lcaets
  • laits ← alits · laist · laitss · laitts · latis · liats · llaits

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lacets" for "laits" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\la.sɛ\ versus \lɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lacets" vs "laits" - which ranks higher?
"lacets" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,053 in our French list, against #36,466 for "laits". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "lacets" and "laits" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lacets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lacets" and "laits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laits vs liait". 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 #126,973 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list