lainesvslaitsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,376
“laines” frequency rank
#36,466
“laits” frequency rank
77842
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laines laits
Definition Pluriel de laine. Pluriel de lait.

Where the eye mixes laines and laits

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
laines
5 ch
laits

Visual trap between laines and laits

A purely visual mix-up. laines (\lɛn\) and laits (\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 77842, 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\. laits is at rank #36,466, 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 77842, this pair ranks #27,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laines vs laits

Shared letters: ails. Private to "laines": en. Private to "laits": t.

"laines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "laits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laineslainess · lainnes · lainse · lanies · llaines
  • laitsalits · laist · laitss · laitts · latis · liats · llaits

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laines" and "laits" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɛn\ versus \lɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "laines" or "laits"?
"laits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,466 in our French list, against #41,376 for "laines". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "laines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laines" and "laits" 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 #27,285 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