lâchévslâchentTell them apart

Quick tell: lâché is a adjective, lâchent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lâché” is an adjective and “lâchent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,973
“lâché” frequency rank
#21,996
“lâchent” frequency rank
28969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lâché lâchent
Definition Quelque chose qui est négligé, qui manque de précision, de vigueur. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de lâcher.

Where the eye mixes lâché and lâchent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lâché runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against lâchent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lâché
7 ch
lâchent

Look-alike desk: lâché vs lâchent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lâché is \la.ʃe\ while lâchent is \laʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lâché is recorded at frequency rank #6,973, classified as anadj, pronounced \la.ʃe\. lâchent is at rank #21,996, tagged as averb, pronounced \laʃ\.

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 28969, this pair ranks #319,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lâché vs lâchent

Shared letters: chlâ. Private to "lâché": é. Private to "lâchent": ent.

"lâché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "lâchent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lâché" for "lâchent" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lâché" is an adjective and "lâchent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lâché" or "lâchent"?
"lâché" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,973 in our French list, against #21,996 for "lâchent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lâché" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lâchent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #319,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lâché" and "lâchent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lâchent vs lichens". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #319,551 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