Which to use
“lamb” and “lame” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,367
- “lamb” frequency rank
- #6,523
- “lame” frequency rank
- 45890
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lamb | lame |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Agneau. | Solide aplati, d’épaisseur mince, feuille, tôle, plaque. |
Where the eye mixes lamb and lame
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lamb vs lame
A purely visual mix-up. lamb (\ˈlæm\) and lame (\lam\) 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 a single letter - b in “lamb” becomes e in “lame”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45890, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lamb is recorded at frequency rank #39,367, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlæm\. lame is at rank #6,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lam\.
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 45890, this pair ranks #199,266 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lamb vs lame
Shared letters: alm. Private to "lamb": b. Private to "lame": e.
"lamb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lamb" and "lame" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lamb" vs "lame" - 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 "lamb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #199,266 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lamb" and "lame" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs lamb". 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 #199,266 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.