lanevsLastWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“lane” and “Last” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,142
“lane” frequency rank
#2,904
“Last” frequency rank
18046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lane Last
Definition Weg, Feldweg, Pfad, Heckenpfad etwas, was sich durch sein Gewicht nach unten drückt oder zieht; auch Ladung, Fracht; was man trägt

Where the eye mixes lane and Last

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lane
4 ch
Last

Visual trap between lane and Last

A purely visual mix-up. lane ([leɪn]) and Last ([last]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lane is recorded at frequency rank #15,142, classified as anoun, pronounced [leɪn]. Last is at rank #2,904, tagged as anoun, pronounced [last].

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 18046, this pair ranks #1,921,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lane vs Last

Shared letters: al. Private to "lane": en. Private to "Last": st.

"lane" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lanealne · laen · lanne · llane · lnae
  • Lastalst · lasst · lastt · lats · llast · lsat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lane" and "Last" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([leɪn] versus [last]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lane" or "Last"?
"Last" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,904 in our German list, against #15,142 for "lane". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Last" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,911 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lane" and "Last" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs lane". 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 #1,921,911 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list