lancentvslancerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,686
“lancent” frequency rank
#1,742
“lancer” frequency rank
11428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lancent lancer
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de lancer. Jeter en avant avec force, avec raideur, pour atteindre au loin.

Where the eye mixes lancent and lancer

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

7 ch
lancent
6 ch
lancer

Visual trap between lancent and lancer

A purely visual mix-up. lancent (\lɑ̃s\) and lancer (\lɑ̃.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 11428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lancent is recorded at frequency rank #9,686, classified as averb, pronounced \lɑ̃s\. lancer is at rank #1,742, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɑ̃.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 11428, this pair ranks #409,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lancent vs lancer

Shared letters: aceln. Private to "lancent": t. Private to "lancer": r.

"lancent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "lancer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lancentalncent · lacnent · lanccent · lancennt · lancentt · lancetn · lancnet · lanecnt
  • lanceralncer · lacner · lanccer · lancerr · lancre · lanecr · lanncer · llancer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lancent" for "lancer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɑ̃s\ versus \lɑ̃.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lancent" vs "lancer" - which ranks higher?
"lancer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,742 in our French list, against #9,686 for "lancent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "lancent" and "lancer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lancent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lancer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #409,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lancent" and "lancer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lancent 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 #409,183 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