Which to use
“lag” is an adjective and “laud” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,733
- “lag” frequency rank
- #47,152
- “laud” frequency rank
- 58885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lag | laud |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Late. | Glorification or praise. |
Where the eye mixes lag and laud
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lag vs laud
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lag is /læɡ/ while laud is /lɔːd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 58885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lag is recorded at frequency rank #11,733, classified as anadj, pronounced /læɡ/. 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 58885, this pair ranks #109,639 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lag vs laud
Shared letters: al. Private to "lag": g. Private to "laud": du.
"lag" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "laud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laud ← ladu · laudd · llaud · luad
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lag" for "laud" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "lag" or "laud" show up more?
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 "lag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,639 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lag" and "laud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laud vs lav". 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 #109,639 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.