lâchervslangerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,689
“lâcher” frequency rank
#38,889
“langer” frequency rank
43578
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lâcher langer
Definition Détendre, desserrer quelque chose. Mettre une couche à un bébé.

Where the eye mixes lâcher and langer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lâcher and langer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
lâcher
6 ch
langer

Look-alike desk: lâcher vs langer

A purely visual mix-up. lâcher (\lɑ.ʃe\) and langer (\lɑ̃.ʒe\) 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 43578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lâcher is recorded at frequency rank #4,689, classified as averb, pronounced \lɑ.ʃe\. langer is at rank #38,889, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɑ̃.ʒe\.

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 43578, this pair ranks #217,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lâcher vs langer

Shared letters: elr. Private to "lâcher": châ. Private to "langer": agn.

"lâcher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "langer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langer ← alnger · lagner · lanegr · langerr · langger · langre · lannger · llanger

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lâcher" for "langer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɑ.ʃe\ versus \lɑ̃.ʒe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lâcher" vs "langer" - which ranks higher?
"lâcher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,689 in our French list, against #38,889 for "langer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lâcher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "langer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #217,010 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lâcher" and "langer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "langer vs linges". 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 #217,010 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