Which to use
“lake” and “laque” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,242
- “lake” frequency rank
- #27,499
- “laque” frequency rank
- 38741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | laque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lac. | 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 lake and laque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lake with laque
A purely visual mix-up. lake (\ˈleɪk\) 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 38741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lake is recorded at frequency rank #11,242, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈleɪk\. 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 38741, this pair ranks #253,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs laque
Shared letters: ael. Private to "lake": k. Private to "laque": qu.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "laque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lake" and "laque" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lake" or "laque"?
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 "lake" 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 #253,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lake" 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 #253,142 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.