Which to use
“lançaient” and “lancent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,974
- “lançaient” frequency rank
- #9,686
- “lancent” frequency rank
- 52660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lançaient | lancent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de lancer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de lancer. |
Where the eye mixes lançaient and lancent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. lançaient runs 9 letters (CVCCVVVCC) against lancent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lançaient with lancent
A purely visual mix-up. lançaient (\lɑ̃.sɛ\) and lancent (\lɑ̃s\) 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 52660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lançaient is recorded at frequency rank #42,974, classified as averb, pronounced \lɑ̃.sɛ\. lancent is at rank #9,686, tagged as averb, 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 52660, this pair ranks #146,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lançaient vs lancent
Shared letters: aelnt. Private to "lançaient": iç. Private to "lancent": c.
"lançaient" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC · "lancent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lancent ← alncent · lacnent · lanccent · lancennt · lancentt · lancetn · lancnet · lanecnt
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lançaient" and "lancent" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lançaient" or "lancent" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lançaient" and "lancent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lançaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lancent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,138 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lançaient" and "lancent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lançaient vs lançait". 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 #146,138 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.