Which to use
“lancée” and “langue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,869
- “lancée” frequency rank
- #629
- “langue” frequency rank
- 5498
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lancée | langue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Employé par quelques médecins comme synonyme d'élancement | Organe musculaire charnu et mobile, situé à l’intérieur de la bouche, et permettant de percevoir le sens du goût et d’articuler certains sons. |
Where the eye mixes lancée and langue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lancée vs langue
A purely visual mix-up. lancée (\lɑ̃.se\) and langue (\lɑ̃ɡ\) 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 5498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lancée is recorded at frequency rank #4,869, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃.se\. langue is at rank #629, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃ɡ\.
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 5498, this pair ranks #428,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lancée vs langue
Shared letters: aeln. Private to "lancée": cé. Private to "langue": gu.
"lancée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "langue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- langue ← alngue · lagnue · langeu · langgue · lanngue · lanuge · llangue · lnague
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lancée" for "langue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lancée" or "langue"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lancée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "langue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,848 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lancée" and "langue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lancée vs lancet". 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 #428,848 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.