Which to use
“lake” and “lax” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,564
- “lake” frequency rank
- #14,157
- “lax” frequency rank
- 15721
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | lax |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid. | A salmon. |
Where the eye mixes lake and lax
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. lake (/leɪk/) and lax (/læks/) 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 15721, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lake is recorded at frequency rank #1,564, classified as anoun, pronounced /leɪk/. lax is at rank #14,157, tagged as anoun, pronounced /læks/.
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 15721, this pair ranks #462,228 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs lax
Shared letters: al. Private to "lake": ek. Private to "lax": x.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lax" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lake ← alke · laek · lakke · lkae · llake