Which to use
“laits” and “lans” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,466
- “laits” frequency rank
- #35,119
- “lans” frequency rank
- 71585
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laits | lans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de lait. | Écart intempestif que fait un navire à droite ou à gauche de sa route ou rotation sur son mouillage. |
Where the eye mixes laits and lans
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laits runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against lans's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laits vs lans
A purely visual mix-up. laits (\lɛ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laits is recorded at frequency rank #36,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ\. 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 71585, this pair ranks #47,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laits vs lans
Shared letters: als. Private to "laits": it. Private to "lans": n.
"laits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "lans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laits" for "lans" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "laits" or "lans" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "laits" and "lans" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laits" 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 #47,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laits" and "lans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laits vs liait". 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 #47,046 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.