Which to use
“laïques” is an adjective and “laque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,989
- “laïques” frequency rank
- #27,499
- “laque” frequency rank
- 49488
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laïques | laque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de laïc. | Gomme laque ; sorte de résine, d’un rouge jaunâtre, qui sort des branches de plusieurs espèces d’arbres famille des Anacardiaceae poussant en Asie. |
Where the eye mixes laïques and laque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laïques runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against laque's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between laïques and laque
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laïques is \la.ik\ while laque is \lak\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laïques is recorded at frequency rank #21,989, classified as anadj, pronounced \la.ik\. laque is at rank #27,499, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lak\.
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 49488, this pair ranks #170,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laïques vs laque
Shared letters: aelqu. Private to "laïques": sï. Private to "laque": -.
"laïques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "laque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- laque ← alque · laqeu · laqque · lauqe · llaque · lqaue
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laïques" for "laque" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laïques" vs "laque" - 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 "laïques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laïques" and "laque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laque vs Laroque". 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 #170,219 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.