Which to use
“laity” and “lasts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,936
- “laity” frequency rank
- #8,309
- “lasts” frequency rank
- 47245
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laity | lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | People of a church who are not ordained clergy or clerics. | plural of last |
Where the eye mixes laity and lasts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between laity and lasts
A purely visual mix-up. laity (/ˈleɪ.ə.ti/) and lasts (/lɑːsts/) 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 47245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laity is recorded at frequency rank #38,936, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.ə.ti/. lasts is at rank #8,309, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɑːsts/.
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 47245, this pair ranks #204,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laity vs lasts
Shared letters: alt. Private to "laity": iy. Private to "lasts": s.
"laity" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lasts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laity" and "lasts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "laity" vs "lasts" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laity" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lasts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #204,223 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laity" and "lasts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laity vs Lally". 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 #204,223 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.