laces vs lopes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#24,812
“laces” frequency rank: #44,310
“lopes” frequency rank: 69122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	laces	lopes
Definition	plural of lace	plural of lope

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set laces and lopes apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

laces

5 ch

lopes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. laces (/ˈleɪ.sɪz/) and lopes (/loʊps/) 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 69122, 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/. lopes is at rank #44,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced /loʊps/.

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 69122, this pair ranks #55,856 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laces vs lopes

Shared letters: els. Private to "laces": ac. Private to "lopes": op.

"laces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lopes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

laces ← alces · lacces · lacess · lacse · laecs · lcaes · llaces
lopes ← llopes · loeps · lopess · loppes · lopse · lpoes · olpes

Frequency comparison

laces#24,812

lopes#44,310

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"laces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,812 in our English list, against #44,310 for "lopes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering laces vs lopes

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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