Which to use
“lackey” and “laker” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,153
- “lackey” frequency rank
- #35,382
- “laker” frequency rank
- 69535
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lackey | laker |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A footman, a liveried male servant. | One engaged in sport; a player; an actor. |
Where the eye mixes lackey and laker
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lackey runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against laker's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lackey with laker
A purely visual mix-up. lackey (/ˈlæ.ki/) and laker (/ˈleɪkə(ɹ)/) 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 69535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lackey is recorded at frequency rank #34,153, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlæ.ki/. laker is at rank #35,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪkə(ɹ)/.
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 69535, this pair ranks #54,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lackey vs laker
Shared letters: aekl. Private to "lackey": cy. Private to "laker": r.
"lackey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "laker" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lackey" and "laker" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lackey" vs "laker" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lackey" and "laker" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lackey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lackey" and "laker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laker vs laver". 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 #54,153 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.