Which to use
“lake” and “life” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,564
- “lake” frequency rank
- #134
- “life” frequency rank
- 1698
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | life |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid. | The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living. |
Where the eye mixes lake and life
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. lake (/leɪk/) and life (/laɪf/) 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 1698, 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/. life is at rank #134, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪf/.
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 1698, this pair ranks #526,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs life
Shared letters: el. Private to "lake": ak. Private to "life": fi.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "life" · 4 letters · shape CVCV