Which to use
“loir” is a noun and “long” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,502
- “loir” frequency rank
- #401
- “long” frequency rank
- 14903
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loir | long |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit mammifère de la famille des gliridés ou myoxidés, sous-ordre des myomorphes, ordre des rongeurs vrais ; il en existe plusieurs espèces en Europe, en Asie et en Afrique. | Qualifie des objets considérés dans leur dimension d’une extrémité à l’autre, par opposition à court. |
Where the eye mixes loir and long
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: loir vs long
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loir is \lwaʁ\ 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loir is recorded at frequency rank #14,502, classified as anoun, pronounced \lwaʁ\. 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 14903, this pair ranks #394,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of loir vs long
Shared letters: lo. Private to "loir": ir. Private to "long": gn.
"loir" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "long" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "loir" and "long" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "loir" 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 "loir" 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 #394,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loir" and "long" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loir". 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 #394,693 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.