lingevsliveWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,842
“linge” frequency rank
#2,524
“live” frequency rank
9366
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature linge live
Definition Tissu de fil ou de coton servant à l’usage du corps ou à des emplois domestiques. Langue éteinte appartenant à la branche fennique de la famille des langues finno-ougriennes (principalement en Livonie).

Where the eye mixes linge and live

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

5 ch
linge
4 ch
live

Look-alike desk: linge vs live

A purely visual mix-up. linge (\lɛ̃ʒ\) and live (\liv\) 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 9366, 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\. live is at rank #2,524, tagged as anoun, pronounced \liv\.

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 9366, this pair ranks #416,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of linge vs live

Shared letters: eil. Private to "linge": gn. Private to "live": v.

"linge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "live" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lingeilnge · lineg · lingge · linnge · llinge · lnige
  • liveilve · liev · livve · llive · lvie

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "linge" and "live" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\lɛ̃ʒ\ versus \liv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "linge" vs "live" - which ranks higher?
"live" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,524 in our French list, against #6,842 for "linge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "linge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "live" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "linge" and "live" 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 #416,911 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