lacyvslaudWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lacy is a adjective, laud is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lacy” is an adjective and “laud” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,558
“lacy” frequency rank
#47,152
“laud” frequency rank
68710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lacy laud
Definition Made of lace or decorated with it. Glorification or praise.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lacy and laud apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lacy
4 ch
laud

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lacy is /ˈleɪ.si/ while laud is /lɔːd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lacy is recorded at frequency rank #21,558, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈleɪ.si/. laud is at rank #47,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔːd/.

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 68710, this pair ranks #57,665 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lacy vs laud

Shared letters: al. Private to "lacy": cy. Private to "laud": du.

"lacy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "laud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacyalcy · laccy · lacyy · layc · llacy
  • laudladu · laudd · llaud · luad

Frequency comparison

lacy#21,558
laud#47,152

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lacy" and "laud" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lacy" is an adjective and "laud" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lacy" or "laud"?
"lacy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,558 in our English list, against #47,152 for "laud". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lacy vs laud

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “lacy”; for a noun, it's “laud”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lacy” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list