Which to use
“lin” and “lung” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,118
- “lin” frequency rank
- #46,871
- “lung” frequency rank
- 54989
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lin | lung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plante herbacée de la famille des Linacées, à feuilles simples, à fleurs généralement bleues, cultivée dans les pays tempérés pour ses graines oléagineuses et pour la fibre textile que fournit sa tige. | Poumon. |
Where the eye mixes lin and lung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lin vs lung
A purely visual mix-up. lin (\lɛ̃\) and lung (\lʌŋ\) 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 54989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lin is recorded at frequency rank #8,118, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ̃\. lung is at rank #46,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lʌŋ\.
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 54989, this pair ranks #130,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lin vs lung
Shared letters: ln. Private to "lin": i. Private to "lung": gu.
"lin" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lung ← llung · lnug · lugn · lungg · lunng · ulng
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lin" and "lung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lin" or "lung"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lin" and "lung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,347 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lin" and "lung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo 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 #130,347 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.