LaosvslawConfusable pair

Quick tell: Laos is a name, law is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Laos” is a name and “law” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,643
“Laos” frequency rank
#8,097
“law” frequency rank
40740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Laos law
Definition Staat in Südostasien Gesetz

Letter map: Laos vs law

Shared letters muted; letters that set Laos and law apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
Laos
3 ch
law

Role in the sentence - Laos and law

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Laos is aname and lawanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Laos is recorded at frequency rank #32,643, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈlaːɔs]. law is at rank #8,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 40740, this pair ranks #1,499,727 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Laos vs law

Shared letters: al. Private to "Laos": os. Private to "law": w.

"Laos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Laoslaoss · llaos · loas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Laos" and "law" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Laos" is a name and "law" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Laos" vs "law" - which ranks higher?
"law" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,097 in our German list, against #32,643 for "Laos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Laos" and "law".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Laos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "law" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,499,727 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Laos" and "law" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lame vs Laos". 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 #1,499,727 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