Which to use
“laïcs” and “lais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,054
- “laïcs” frequency rank
- #41,862
- “lais” frequency rank
- 60916
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laïcs | lais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de laïc. | Jeune baliveau de l’âge du bois, qu’on laisse quand on coupe le taillis, afin qu’il vienne en haute futaie. |
Where the eye mixes laïcs and lais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laïcs runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against lais's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laïcs with lais
A purely visual mix-up. laïcs (\la.ik\) and lais (\lɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laïcs is recorded at frequency rank #19,054, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.ik\. lais is at rank #41,862, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛ\.
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 60916, this pair ranks #95,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laïcs vs lais
Shared letters: als. Private to "laïcs": cï. Private to "lais": i.
"laïcs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "lais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lais ← alis · laiss · lasi · llais
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laïcs" and "lais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "laïcs" vs "lais" - which ranks higher?
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 "laïcs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laïcs" and "lais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs lais". 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 #95,110 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.