Which to use
“lance” and “line” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,441
- “lance” frequency rank
- #8,263
- “line” frequency rank
- 9704
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lance | line |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arme à long bois, terminée par un fer pointu et qui, au Moyen Âge, était fort grosse vers la poignée. | Corde, fil. |
Where the eye mixes lance and line
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lance and line
A purely visual mix-up. lance (\lɑ̃s\) and line (\laɪn\) 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 9704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lance is recorded at frequency rank #1,441, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃s\. line is at rank #8,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced \laɪn\.
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 9704, this pair ranks #415,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lance vs line
Shared letters: eln. Private to "lance": ac. Private to "line": i.
"lance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "line" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lance" and "line" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lance" vs "line" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "line" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lance" and "line" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liker vs line". 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 #415,726 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.