Which to use
“linge” is a noun and “longs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,842
- “linge” frequency rank
- #3,271
- “longs” frequency rank
- 10113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | linge | longs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tissu de fil ou de coton servant à l’usage du corps ou à des emplois domestiques. | Masculin pluriel de long. |
Where the eye mixes linge and longs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: linge vs longs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: linge is \lɛ̃ʒ\ while longs is \lɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10113, 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\. longs is at rank #3,271, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɔ̃\.
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 10113, this pair ranks #414,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of linge vs longs
Shared letters: gln. Private to "linge": ei. Private to "longs": os.
"linge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "longs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "linge" for "longs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "linge" or "longs" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "linge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "longs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "linge" and "longs" 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 #414,178 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.