lâchésvslancesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lâchés is a adjective, lances is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lâchés” is an adjective and “lances” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,254
“lâchés” frequency rank
#15,925
“lances” frequency rank
46179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lâchés lances
Definition Masculin pluriel de lâché. Pluriel de lance.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lâchés and lances apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
lâchés
6 ch
lances

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lâchés is \la.ʃe\ while lances is \lɑ̃s\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lâchés is recorded at frequency rank #30,254, classified as anadj, pronounced \la.ʃe\. lances is at rank #15,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃s\.

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 46179, this pair ranks #196,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lâchés vs lances

Shared letters: cls. Private to "lâchés": hâé. Private to "lances": aen.

"lâchés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lancesalnces · lacnes · lancces · lancess · lancse · lanecs · lannces · llances

Frequency comparison

lâchés#30,254
lances#15,925

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lâchés" and "lances" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lâchés" is an adjective and "lances" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lâchés" or "lances"?
"lances" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,925 in our French list, against #30,254 for "lâchés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lâchés vs lances

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “lâchés”; for a noun, it's “lances”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lâchés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list