lancéesvslanguesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“lancées” and “langues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,829
“lancées” frequency rank
#1,999
“langues” frequency rank
15828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lancées langues
Definition Pluriel de lancée. Pluriel de langue.

Where the eye mixes lancées and langues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
lancées
7 ch
langues

Why the eye confuses lancées with langues

A purely visual mix-up. lancées (\lɑ̃.se\) and langues (\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 15828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lancées is recorded at frequency rank #13,829, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃.se\. langues is at rank #1,999, 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 15828, this pair ranks #390,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lancées vs langues

Shared letters: aelns. Private to "lancées": . Private to "langues": gu.

"lancées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "langues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • languesalngues · lagnues · langeus · langgues · languess · languse · lanngues · lanuges

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lancées" for "langues" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɑ̃.se\ versus \lɑ̃ɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lancées" vs "langues" - which ranks higher?
"langues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,999 in our French list, against #13,829 for "lancées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lancées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "langues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #390,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lancées" and "langues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lancées 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 #390,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list