Which to use
“lane” and “lung” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,498
- “lane” frequency rank
- #46,871
- “lung” frequency rank
- 61369
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lane | lung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Étendue d'eau où l'on pêche des aloses et des saumons. | Poumon. |
Where the eye mixes lane and lung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lane (CVCV) and lung (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: lane vs lung
A purely visual mix-up. lane (\lan\) and lung (\lʌŋ\) 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 61369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lane is recorded at frequency rank #14,498, classified as anoun, pronounced \lan\. lung is at rank #46,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lʌŋ\.
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 61369, this pair ranks #92,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lane vs lung
Shared letters: ln. Private to "lane": ae. Private to "lung": gu.
"lane" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lane" for "lung" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lane" vs "lung" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lane" and "lung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lane" and "lung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo vs lung". 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 #92,647 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.