Which to use
“lavabo” and “lavage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,266
- “lavabo” frequency rank
- #11,243
- “lavage” frequency rank
- 34509
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lavabo | lavage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prière que le prêtre dit en lavant ses doigts durant la messe, avant la consécration. | Action de laver. |
Where the eye mixes lavabo and lavage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lavabo and lavage follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: lavabo vs lavage
A purely visual mix-up. lavabo (\la.va.bo\) and lavage (\la.vaʒ\) 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 34509, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lavabo is recorded at frequency rank #23,266, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.va.bo\. lavage is at rank #11,243, tagged as anoun, pronounced \la.vaʒ\.
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 34509, this pair ranks #283,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lavabo vs lavage
Shared letters: alv. Private to "lavabo": bo. Private to "lavage": eg.
"lavabo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "lavage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lavabo" and "lavage" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lavabo" or "lavage"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lavabo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lavage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lavabo" and "lavage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lavabo vs lavait". 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 #283,349 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.