lignéesvslingesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,466
“lignées” frequency rank
#48,013
“linges” frequency rank
80479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lignées linges
Definition Pluriel de lignée. Pluriel de linge.

Where the eye mixes lignées and linges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lignées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against linges's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
lignées
6 ch
linges

Why the eye confuses lignées with linges

A purely visual mix-up. lignées (\li.ɲe\) and linges (\lɛ̃ʒ\) 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 80479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lignées is recorded at frequency rank #32,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \li.ɲe\. linges is at rank #48,013, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛ̃ʒ\.

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 80479, this pair ranks #20,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lignées vs linges

Shared letters: egilns. Private to "lignées": é. Private to "linges": -.

"lignées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "linges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linges ← ilnges · linegs · lingess · lingges · lingse · linnges · llinges · lniges

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lignées" and "linges" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\li.ɲe\ versus \lɛ̃ʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "lignées" or "linges" show up more?
"lignées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,466 in our French list, against #48,013 for "linges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lignées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "linges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lignées" and "linges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "limes vs linges". 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 #20,812 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