Which to use
“Lampe” and “lance” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,313
- “Lampe” frequency rank
- #1,441
- “lance” frequency rank
- 7754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lampe | lance |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lampe. | Arme à long bois, terminée par un fer pointu et qui, au Moyen Âge, était fort grosse vers la poignée. |
Where the eye mixes Lampe and lance
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Lampe with lance
A purely visual mix-up. Lampe (\ˈlampə\) and lance (\lɑ̃s\) 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 7754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Lampe is recorded at frequency rank #6,313, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlampə\. lance is at rank #1,441, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃s\.
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 7754, this pair ranks #422,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Lampe vs lance
Shared letters: ael. Private to "Lampe": mp. Private to "lance": cn.
"Lampe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "lance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Lampe" and "lance" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Lampe" or "lance"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Lampe" and "lance" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Lampe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lance" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Lampe" and "lance" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lampe vs lemme". 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 #422,224 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.