lancéesvslycéesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,829
“lancées” frequency rank
#8,419
“lycées” frequency rank
22248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lancées lycées
Definition Pluriel de lancée. Pluriel de lycée.

Where the eye mixes lancées and lycées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lancées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against lycées's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
lancées
6 ch
lycées

Visual trap between lancées and lycées

A purely visual mix-up. lancées (\lɑ̃.se\) and lycées (\li.se\) 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 22248, 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\. lycées is at rank #8,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.se\.

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 22248, this pair ranks #359,047 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lancées vs lycées

Shared letters: celsé. Private to "lancées": an. Private to "lycées": y.

"lancées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "lycées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lancées" and "lycées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\lɑ̃.se\ versus \li.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lancées" vs "lycées" - which ranks higher?
"lycées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,419 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.

What to do next

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 "lycées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #359,047 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lancées" and "lycées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lancées vs lancet". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #359,047 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