Which to use
“laines” and “lances” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,376
- “laines” frequency rank
- #15,925
- “lances” frequency rank
- 57301
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laines | lances |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de laine. | Pluriel de lance. |
Where the eye mixes laines and lances
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laines (CVVCVC) and lances (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses laines with lances
A purely visual mix-up. laines (\lɛn\) and lances (\lɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57301, 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\. lances is at rank #15,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃s\.
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 57301, this pair ranks #115,886 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laines vs lances
Shared letters: aelns. Private to "laines": i. Private to "lances": c.
"laines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laines" for "lances" ever safe?
Which is more common, "laines" or "lances"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "laines" and "lances" 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 "lances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,886 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laines" and "lances" 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 #115,886 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.