Which to use
“lances” and “lançons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,925
- “lances” frequency rank
- #34,158
- “lançons” frequency rank
- 50083
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lances | lançons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de lance. | Pluriel de lançon. |
Where the eye mixes lances and lançons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lances runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against lançons's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: lances vs lançons
A purely visual mix-up. lances (\lɑ̃s\) and lançons (\lɑ̃.sɔ̃\) 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 50083, 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\. lançons is at rank #34,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃.sɔ̃\.
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 50083, this pair ranks #165,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lances vs lançons
Shared letters: alns. Private to "lances": ce. Private to "lançons": oç.
"lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lançons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lances ← alnces · lacnes · lancces · lancess · lancse · lanecs · lannces · llances
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lances" and "lançons" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lances" or "lançons"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lances" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lançons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lances" and "lançons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lançons vs landon". 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 #165,449 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.