Which to use
“line” and “lung” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,263
- “line” frequency rank
- #46,871
- “lung” frequency rank
- 55134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | line | lung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corde, fil. | Poumon. |
Where the eye mixes line and lung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. line (CVCV) and lung (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between line and lung
A purely visual mix-up. line (\laɪn\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
line is recorded at frequency rank #8,263, classified as anoun, pronounced \laɪn\. 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 55134, this pair ranks #129,469 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of line vs lung
Shared letters: ln. Private to "line": ei. Private to "lung": gu.
"line" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "line" and "lung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "line" or "lung" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "line" and "lung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "line" 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 #129,469 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "line" 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 #129,469 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.