Which to use
“lacets” and “lycées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,053
- “lacets” frequency rank
- #8,419
- “lycées” frequency rank
- 27472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lacets | lycées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de lacet. | Pluriel de lycée. |
Where the eye mixes lacets and lycées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lacets (CVCVCC) and lycées (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between lacets and lycées
A purely visual mix-up. lacets (\la.sɛ\) and lycées (\li.se\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27472, 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\. lycées is at rank #8,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.se\.
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 27472, this pair ranks #328,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lacets vs lycées
Shared letters: cels. Private to "lacets": at. Private to "lycées": yé.
"lacets" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "lycées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lacets ← alcets · laccets · lacest · lacetss · lacetts · lactes · laects · lcaets
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lacets" and "lycées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lacets" or "lycées" show up more?
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 "lycées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #328,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lacets" and "lycées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lacets vs lancet". 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 #328,741 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.