Which to use
“lady” and “laws” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,194
- “lady” frequency rank
- #1,370
- “laws” frequency rank
- 2564
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lady | laws |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The mistress of a household. | plural of law |
Where the eye mixes lady and laws
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. lady (/ˈleɪ.di/) and laws (/lɔːz/) 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 2564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lady is recorded at frequency rank #1,194, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.di/. laws is at rank #1,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔːz/.
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 2564, this pair ranks #524,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lady vs laws
Shared letters: al. Private to "lady": dy. Private to "laws": sw.
"lady" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "laws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC