latinsvslutinsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,747
“latins” frequency rank
#29,426
“lutins” frequency rank
47173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature latins lutins
Definition Masculin pluriel de latin. Masculin pluriel de lutin.

Where the eye mixes latins and lutins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. latins and lutins follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
latins
6 ch
lutins

Why the eye confuses latins with lutins

A purely visual mix-up. latins (\la.tɛ̃\) and lutins (\ly.tɛ̃\) 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 - a in “latins” becomes u in “lutins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

latins is recorded at frequency rank #17,747, classified as anadj, pronounced \la.tɛ̃\. lutins is at rank #29,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ly.tɛ̃\.

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 47173, this pair ranks #188,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of latins vs lutins

Shared letters: ilnst. Private to "latins": a. Private to "lutins": u.

"latins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "lutins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • latinsaltins · laitns · latinns · latinss · latisn · latnis · lattins · llatins
  • lutinsllutins · ltuins · luitns · lutinns · lutinss · lutisn · lutnis · luttins

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "latins" and "lutins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\la.tɛ̃\ versus \ly.tɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "latins" or "lutins"?
"latins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,747 in our French list, against #29,426 for "lutins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "latins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lutins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #188,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "latins" and "lutins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lotis vs lutins". 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 #188,996 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