lagunevslègueWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lagune is a noun, lègue is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lagune” is a noun and “lègue” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,241
“lagune” frequency rank
#32,472
“lègue” frequency rank
62713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lagune lègue
Definition Étendue plus ou moins grande d’eau de mer, sur un haut-fond, entre des îlots ou des bancs de sable. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de léguer.

Where the eye mixes lagune and lègue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lagune runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against lègue's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
lagune
5 ch
lègue

Why the eye confuses lagune with lègue

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lagune is \la.ɡyn\ while lègue is \lɛɡ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lagune is recorded at frequency rank #30,241, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.ɡyn\. lègue is at rank #32,472, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɛɡ\.

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 62713, this pair ranks #85,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lagune vs lègue

Shared letters: eglu. Private to "lagune": an. Private to "lègue": è.

"lagune" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "lègue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lagune ← algune · laggune · laguen · lagunne · laugne · lgaune · llagune

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lagune" and "lègue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lagune" is a noun and "lègue" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lagune" or "lègue"?
"lagune" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,241 in our French list, against #32,472 for "lègue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lagune" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lègue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #85,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lagune" and "lègue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lègue vs leste". 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 #85,708 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