Which to use
“laces” and “lapel” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,812
- “laces” frequency rank
- #38,470
- “lapel” frequency rank
- 63282
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laces | lapel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lace | Each of the two triangular pieces of cloth on the front of a jacket or coat that are folded back below the throat, leaving a triangular opening between. |
Where the eye mixes laces and lapel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laces and lapel follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between laces and lapel
A purely visual mix-up. laces (/ˈleɪ.sɪz/) and lapel (/ləˈpɛl/) 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 63282, 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/. lapel is at rank #38,470, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ləˈpɛl/.
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 63282, this pair ranks #83,819 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laces vs lapel
Shared letters: ael. Private to "laces": cs. Private to "lapel": p.
"laces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lapel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laces" for "lapel" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "laces" or "lapel" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laces" and "lapel" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lapel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,819 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laces" and "lapel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapel vs lope". 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 #83,819 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.