Which to use
“laines” and “lans” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,376
- “laines” frequency rank
- #35,119
- “lans” frequency rank
- 76495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laines | lans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de laine. | Écart intempestif que fait un navire à droite ou à gauche de sa route ou rotation sur son mouillage. |
Where the eye mixes laines and lans
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between laines and lans
A purely visual mix-up. laines (\lɛn\) and lans (\lɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76495, 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\. lans is at rank #35,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃\.
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 76495, this pair ranks #30,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laines vs lans
Shared letters: alns. Private to "laines": ei. Private to "lans": -.
"laines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "lans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laines" and "lans" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "laines" vs "lans" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laines" and "lans" 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 "lans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laines" and "lans" 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 #30,976 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.