Which to use
“laitue” and “laque” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,462
- “laitue” frequency rank
- #27,499
- “laque” frequency rank
- 59961
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laitue | laque |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | 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 laitue and laque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laitue runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against laque's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laitue with laque
A purely visual mix-up. laitue (\lɛ.ty\) and laque (\lak\) 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 59961, 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\. 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 59961, this pair ranks #100,201 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laitue vs laque
Shared letters: aelu. Private to "laitue": it. Private to "laque": q.
"laitue" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "laque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laitue" for "laque" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laitue" vs "laque" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laitue" 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 #100,201 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laitue" and "laque" 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 #100,201 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.