Which to use
“loin” is an adverb and “long” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #348
- “loin” frequency rank
- #401
- “long” frequency rank
- 749
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loin | long |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Se trouvant à une grande distance. | Qualifie des objets considérés dans leur dimension d’une extrémité à l’autre, par opposition à court. |
Where the eye mixes loin and long
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses loin with long
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loin is \lwɛ̃\ while long 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loin is recorded at frequency rank #348, classified as anadv, pronounced \lwɛ̃\. long is at rank #401, 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 749, this pair ranks #439,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of loin vs long
Shared letters: lno. Private to "loin": i. Private to "long": g.
"loin" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "long" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "loin" and "long" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "loin" or "long"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "loin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "long" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loin" and "long" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "long vs loving". 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 #439,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.