Which to use
“lâché” is an adjective and “lame” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,973
- “lâché” frequency rank
- #6,523
- “lame” frequency rank
- 13496
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lâché | lame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quelque chose qui est négligé, qui manque de précision, de vigueur. | Solide aplati, d’épaisseur mince, feuille, tôle, plaque. |
Where the eye mixes lâché and lame
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. lâché runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against lame's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: lâché vs lame
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lâché is \la.ʃe\ while lame is \lam\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13496, 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\. lame is at rank #6,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lam\.
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 13496, this pair ranks #400,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lâché vs lame
Shared letters: l. Private to "lâché": châé. Private to "lame": aem.
"lâché" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lame ← alme · laem · lamme · llame · lmae
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lâché" and "lame" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lâché" or "lame" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lâché" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lâché" and "lame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs lame". 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 #400,790 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.