Which to use
“long” is an adjective and “longue” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #401
- “long” frequency rank
- #880
- “longue” frequency rank
- 1281
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | long | longue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qualifie des objets considérés dans leur dimension d’une extrémité à l’autre, par opposition à court. | Syllabe, voyelle dont la prononciation doit avoir plus de durée que celle d’une syllabe, d’une voyelle brève. |
Where the eye mixes long and longue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between long and longue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: long is \lɔ̃\ while longue is \lɔ̃ɡ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “long” sits inside “longue”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
long is recorded at frequency rank #401, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɔ̃\. 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 1281, this pair ranks #438,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of long vs longue
Shared letters: glno. Private to "long": -. Private to "longue": eu.
"long" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "longue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "long" and "longue" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "long" or "longue"?
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 "long" 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 #438,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "long" and "longue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo vs longue". 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 #438,320 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.