lacunesvslunesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,990
“lacunes” frequency rank
#21,381
“lunes” frequency rank
33371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lacunes lunes
Definition Pluriel de lacune. Pluriel de lune (utilisé dans le sens de satellite naturel).

Where the eye mixes lacunes and lunes

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

7 ch
lacunes
5 ch
lunes

Look-alike desk: lacunes vs lunes

A purely visual mix-up. lacunes (\la.kyn\) and lunes (\lyn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lacunes is recorded at frequency rank #11,990, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.kyn\. lunes is at rank #21,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lyn\.

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 33371, this pair ranks #291,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lacunes vs lunes

Shared letters: elnsu. Private to "lacunes": ac. Private to "lunes": -.

"lacunes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "lunes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacunesalcunes · laccunes · lacnues · lacuens · lacuness · lacunnes · lacunse · laucnes
  • lunesllunes · lnues · luens · luness · lunnes · lunse · ulnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lacunes" for "lunes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\la.kyn\ versus \lyn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lacunes" vs "lunes" - which ranks higher?
"lacunes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,990 in our French list, against #21,381 for "lunes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lacunes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lunes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lacunes" and "lunes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lunes vs lure". 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 #291,077 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