laces vs lances, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“laces” and “lances” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,812
“laces” frequency rank: #48,314
“lances” frequency rank: 73126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	laces	lances
Definition	plural of lace	plural of lance

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set laces and lances apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

laces

6 ch

lances

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. laces (/ˈleɪ.sɪz/) and lances (/ˈlænsɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73126, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laces is recorded at frequency rank #24,812, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.sɪz/. lances is at rank #48,314, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlænsɪz/.

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 73126, this pair ranks #40,652 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laces vs lances

Shared letters: acels. Private to "laces": -. Private to "lances": n.

"laces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

laces ← alces · lacces · lacess · lacse · laecs · lcaes · llaces
lances ← alnces · lacnes · lancces · lancess · lancse · lanecs · lannces · llances

Frequency comparison

laces#24,812

lances#48,314

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laces" and "lances" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈleɪ.sɪz/ versus /ˈlænsɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "laces" or "lances"?

"laces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,812 in our English list, against #48,314 for "lances". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering laces vs lances

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “laces” entry
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