lingevslisteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,842
“linge” frequency rank
#604
“liste” frequency rank
7446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature linge liste
Definition Tissu de fil ou de coton servant à l’usage du corps ou à des emplois domestiques. Bande, bordure.

Where the eye mixes linge and liste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
linge
5 ch
liste

Look-alike desk: linge vs liste

A purely visual mix-up. linge (\lɛ̃ʒ\) and liste (\list\) 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 7446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

linge is recorded at frequency rank #6,842, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ̃ʒ\. liste is at rank #604, tagged as anoun, pronounced \list\.

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 7446, this pair ranks #423,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of linge vs liste

Shared letters: eil. Private to "linge": gn. Private to "liste": st.

"linge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "liste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lingeilnge · lineg · lingge · linnge · llinge · lnige
  • listeilste · liset · lisste · listte · litse · lliste · lsite

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "linge" and "liste" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɛ̃ʒ\ versus \list\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "linge" vs "liste" - which ranks higher?
"liste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #604 in our French list, against #6,842 for "linge". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "linge" and "liste" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "linge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "liste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "linge" and "liste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linge vs longo". 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 #423,141 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