Which to use
“linge” and “longue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,842
- “linge” frequency rank
- #880
- “longue” frequency rank
- 7722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | linge | longue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tissu de fil ou de coton servant à l’usage du corps ou à des emplois domestiques. | Syllabe, voyelle dont la prononciation doit avoir plus de durée que celle d’une syllabe, d’une voyelle brève. |
Where the eye mixes linge and longue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses linge with longue
A purely visual mix-up. linge (\lɛ̃ʒ\) and longue (\lɔ̃ɡ\) 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 7722, 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\. longue is at rank #880, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔ̃ɡ\.
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 7722, this pair ranks #422,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of linge vs longue
Shared letters: egln. Private to "linge": i. Private to "longue": ou.
"linge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "longue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "linge" and "longue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "linge" or "longue" 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 "longue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "linge" and "longue" 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 #422,315 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.