Which to use
“ladies” and “lapis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,301
- “ladies” frequency rank
- #38,012
- “lapis” frequency rank
- 40313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ladies | lapis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lady | Ellipsis of lapis lazuli. |
Where the eye mixes ladies and lapis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ladies runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against lapis's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ladies vs lapis
A purely visual mix-up. ladies (/ˈleɪ.diz/) and lapis (/ˈlæpɪs/) 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 40313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ladies is recorded at frequency rank #2,301, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.diz/. lapis is at rank #38,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlæpɪs/.
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 40313, this pair ranks #268,726 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ladies vs lapis
Shared letters: ails. Private to "ladies": de. Private to "lapis": p.
"ladies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "lapis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ladies" and "lapis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "ladies" or "lapis" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ladies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lapis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,726 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ladies" and "lapis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapis vs Levis". 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 #268,726 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.