Which to use
“lacets” and “lasers” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,053
- “lacets” frequency rank
- #24,653
- “lasers” frequency rank
- 43706
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lacets | lasers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de lacet. | Pluriel de laser. |
Where the eye mixes lacets and lasers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lacets and lasers follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses lacets with lasers
A purely visual mix-up. lacets (\la.sɛ\) and lasers (\la.zɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43706, 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\. lasers is at rank #24,653, tagged as anoun, pronounced \la.zɛʁ\.
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 43706, this pair ranks #216,064 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lacets vs lasers
Shared letters: aels. Private to "lacets": ct. Private to "lasers": r.
"lacets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "lasers" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lacets" and "lasers" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lacets" or "lasers"?
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 "lacets" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lasers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #216,064 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lacets" and "lasers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lasers vs later". 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 #216,064 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.