Which to use
“lent” and “long” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,840
- “lent” frequency rank
- #401
- “long” frequency rank
- 7241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lent | long |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas rapide dans ses mouvements, dans ses actions, qui n’agit pas avec promptitude. | Qualifie des objets considérés dans leur dimension d’une extrémité à l’autre, par opposition à court. |
Where the eye mixes lent and long
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lent and long
A purely visual mix-up. lent (\lɑ̃\) and long (\lɔ̃\) 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 7241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lent is recorded at frequency rank #6,840, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɑ̃\. long is at rank #401, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɔ̃\.
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 7241, this pair ranks #423,745 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lent vs long
Shared letters: ln. Private to "lent": et. Private to "long": go.
"lent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "long" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lent" and "long" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lent" or "long" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "long" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #423,745 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lent" and "long" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lent vs lep". 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 #423,745 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.