Which to use
“lacy” is an adjective and “legacy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,558
- “lacy” frequency rank
- #3,825
- “legacy” frequency rank
- 25383
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lacy | legacy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Made of lace or decorated with it. | Money or property bequeathed to someone in a will. |
Where the eye mixes lacy and legacy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lacy runs 4 letters (CVCV) against legacy's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lacy with legacy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lacy is /ˈleɪ.si/ while legacy is /ˈlɛɡəsi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25383, 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/. legacy is at rank #3,825, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɛɡəsi/.
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 25383, this pair ranks #394,689 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lacy vs legacy
Shared letters: acly. Private to "lacy": -. Private to "legacy": eg.
"lacy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "legacy" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lacy" and "legacy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lacy" or "legacy"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lacy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "legacy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,689 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lacy" and "legacy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lacy vs LSC". 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 #394,689 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.