langagesvslanguesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,423
“langages” frequency rank
#1,999
“langues” frequency rank
17422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature langages langues
Definition Pluriel de langage. Pluriel de langue.

Where the eye mixes langages and langues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. langages runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against langues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
langages
7 ch
langues

Visual trap between langages and langues

A purely visual mix-up. langages (\lɑ̃.ɡaʒ\) and langues (\lɑ̃ɡ\) 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 17422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

langages is recorded at frequency rank #15,423, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃.ɡaʒ\. langues is at rank #1,999, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃ɡ\.

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 17422, this pair ranks #383,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of langages vs langues

Shared letters: aeglns. Private to "langages": -. Private to "langues": u.

"langages" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "langues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • langages ← alngages · lagnages · lanagges · langaegs · langagess · langagges · langagse · langgaes
  • langues ← alngues · lagnues · langeus · langgues · languess · languse · lanngues · lanuges

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "langages" and "langues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\lɑ̃.ɡaʒ\ versus \lɑ̃ɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "langages" or "langues" show up more?
"langues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,999 in our French list, against #15,423 for "langages". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "langages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "langues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #383,244 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "langages" and "langues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "langages vs lavages". 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 #383,244 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