Which to use
“laitue” and “langue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,462
- “laitue” frequency rank
- #629
- “langue” frequency rank
- 33091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laitue | langue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom usuel donné à la plupart des plantes du genre Lactuca, de la famille des Asteraceae (Astéracées), produisant du latex, et dont certaines espèces sont cultivées comme plantes potagères. | Organe musculaire charnu et mobile, situé à l’intérieur de la bouche, et permettant de percevoir le sens du goût et d’articuler certains sons. |
Where the eye mixes laitue and langue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laitue (CVVCVV) and langue (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses laitue with langue
A purely visual mix-up. laitue (\lɛ.ty\) and langue (\lɑ̃ɡ\) 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 33091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laitue is recorded at frequency rank #32,462, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ.ty\. langue is at rank #629, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃ɡ\.
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 33091, this pair ranks #292,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laitue vs langue
Shared letters: aelu. Private to "laitue": it. Private to "langue": gn.
"laitue" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "langue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laitue" and "langue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "laitue" or "langue" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laitue" and "langue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laitue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "langue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #292,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laitue" and "langue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lafitte vs laitue". 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 #292,916 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.