lacingvslosingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,579
“lacing” frequency rank
#1,487
“losing” frequency rank
48066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lacing losing
Definition present participle and gerund of lace present participle and gerund of lose

Where the eye mixes lacing and losing

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
lacing
6 ch
losing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lacing (/ˈleɪsɪŋ/) and losing (/ˈluːzɪŋ/) 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 48066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lacing is recorded at frequency rank #46,579, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈleɪsɪŋ/. losing is at rank #1,487, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈluːzɪŋ/.

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 48066, this pair ranks #196,612 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lacing vs losing

Shared letters: giln. Private to "lacing": ac. Private to "losing": os.

"lacing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "losing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacingalcing · laccing · lacign · lacingg · lacinng · lacnig · laicng · lcaing
  • losingllosing · loisng · losign · losingg · losinng · losnig · lossing · lsoing

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lacing" and "losing" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈleɪsɪŋ/ versus /ˈluːzɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lacing" or "losing"?
"losing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,487 in our English list, against #46,579 for "lacing". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list