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 eye mixes laces and lopes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laces and lopes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses laces with lopes
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laces" for "lopes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laces" vs "lopes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lopes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,856 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laces" and "lopes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs lopes". 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 #55,856 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.