Which to use
“lances” and “lancet” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,925
- “lances” frequency rank
- #47,420
- “lancet” frequency rank
- 63345
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lances | lancet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de lance. | Bistouri. |
Where the eye mixes lances and lancet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lances and lancet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: lances vs lancet
A purely visual mix-up. lances (\lɑ̃s\) and lancet (\ˈlæn.sɛt\) 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 a single letter - s in “lances” becomes t in “lancet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lances is recorded at frequency rank #15,925, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃s\. lancet is at rank #47,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlæn.sɛt\.
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 63345, this pair ranks #82,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lances vs lancet
Shared letters: aceln. Private to "lances": s. Private to "lancet": t.
"lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lancet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lances" and "lancet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lances" or "lancet"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lances" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lancet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lances" and "lancet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lacey 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 #82,423 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.