lansvslinnTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,119
“lans” frequency rank
#46,866
“linn” frequency rank
81985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lans linn
Definition Écart intempestif que fait un navire à droite ou à gauche de sa route ou rotation sur son mouillage. Ville.

Where the eye mixes lans and linn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lans and linn follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
lans
4 ch
linn

Visual trap between lans and linn

A purely visual mix-up. lans (\lɑ̃\) and linn (\linʲˑ\) 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 81985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lans is recorded at frequency rank #35,119, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɑ̃\. linn is at rank #46,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced \linʲˑ\.

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 81985, this pair ranks #17,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lans vs linn

Shared letters: ln. Private to "lans": as. Private to "linn": i.

"lans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "linn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lans ← alns · lanns · lanss · lasn · llans · lnas
  • linn ← ilnn · llinn · lnin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lans" for "linn" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɑ̃\ versus \linʲˑ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lans" or "linn"?
"lans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,119 in our French list, against #46,866 for "linn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "linn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,678 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lans" and "linn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linn 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 #17,678 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