Which to use
“laines” is a noun and “laïques” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,376
- “laines” frequency rank
- #21,989
- “laïques” frequency rank
- 63365
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laines | laïques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de laine. | Féminin pluriel de laïc. |
Where the eye mixes laines and laïques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laines runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against laïques's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laines vs laïques
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laines is \lɛn\ while laïques is \la.ik\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laines is recorded at frequency rank #41,376, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛn\. laïques is at rank #21,989, tagged as anadj, pronounced \la.ik\.
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 63365, this pair ranks #82,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laines vs laïques
Shared letters: aels. Private to "laines": in. Private to "laïques": quï.
"laines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "laïques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laines ← lainess · lainnes · lainse · lanies · llaines
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laines" for "laïques" ever safe?
Which is more common, "laines" or "laïques"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "laines" and "laïques" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laïques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laines" and "laïques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laines 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 #82,308 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.