Which to use
“lame” and “larmes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,523
- “lame” frequency rank
- #3,014
- “larmes” frequency rank
- 9537
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lame | larmes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Solide aplati, d’épaisseur mince, feuille, tôle, plaque. | Pluriel de larme. |
Where the eye mixes lame and larmes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lame with larmes
A purely visual mix-up. lame (\lam\) and larmes (\laʁm\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9537, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lame is recorded at frequency rank #6,523, classified as anoun, pronounced \lam\. larmes is at rank #3,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced \laʁm\.
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 9537, this pair ranks #416,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lame vs larmes
Shared letters: aelm. Private to "lame": -. Private to "larmes": rs.
"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "larmes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lame" and "larmes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "lame" vs "larmes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lame" and "larmes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "larmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,293 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lame" and "larmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs lame". 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 #416,293 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.