Which to use
“licorne” and “lucerne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,966
- “licorne” frequency rank
- #33,763
- “lucerne” frequency rank
- 48729
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licorne | lucerne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quadrupède fabuleux, ressemblant à une biche portant une corne au milieu du front, à queue de lion et barbiche de chèvre, dont il est souvent question dans les bestiaires et les légendes du Moyen Âge. | Lanterne antique. |
Where the eye mixes licorne and lucerne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: licorne vs lucerne
A purely visual mix-up. licorne (\li.kɔʁn\) and lucerne (\ly.sɛʁn\) 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 48729, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licorne is recorded at frequency rank #14,966, classified as anoun, pronounced \li.kɔʁn\. lucerne is at rank #33,763, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ly.sɛʁn\.
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 48729, this pair ranks #176,494 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of licorne vs lucerne
Shared letters: celnr. Private to "licorne": io. Private to "lucerne": u.
"licorne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "lucerne" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "licorne" for "lucerne" ever safe?
Frequency check: "licorne" vs "lucerne" - which ranks higher?
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 "licorne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lucerne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,494 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licorne" and "lucerne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lucerne vs Lucette". 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 #176,494 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.