Which to use
“ligne” and “linn” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #328
- “ligne” frequency rank
- #46,866
- “linn” frequency rank
- 47194
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ligne | linn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Trait simple, considéré comme n’ayant ni largeur ni profondeur. — Note d’usage : Il s’emploie surtout dans les sciences mathématiques. | Ville. |
Where the eye mixes ligne and linn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ligne runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against linn's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ligne with linn
A purely visual mix-up. ligne (\liɲ\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ligne is recorded at frequency rank #328, classified as anoun, pronounced \liɲ\. 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 47194, this pair ranks #188,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ligne vs linn
Shared letters: iln. Private to "ligne": eg. Private to "linn": -.
"ligne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "linn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ligne" and "linn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ligne" vs "linn" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "ligne" and "linn" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ligne" 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 #188,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ligne" 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 #188,818 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.