lakervslikesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“laker” and “likes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,382
“laker” frequency rank
#1,907
“likes” frequency rank
37289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laker likes
Definition One engaged in sport; a player; an actor. plural of like

Where the eye mixes laker and likes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laker and likes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
laker
5 ch
likes

Why the eye confuses laker with likes

A purely visual mix-up. laker (/ˈleɪkə(ɹ)/) and likes (/laɪks/) 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 37289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laker is recorded at frequency rank #35,382, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪkə(ɹ)/. likes is at rank #1,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪks/.

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 37289, this pair ranks #295,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laker vs likes

Shared letters: ekl. Private to "laker": ar. Private to "likes": is.

"laker" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "likes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laker ← alker · laekr · lakerr · lakker · lakre · lkaer · llaker
  • likes ← ilkes · lieks · likess · likkes · likse · lkies · llikes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laker" for "likes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈleɪkə(ɹ)/ versus /laɪks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "laker" or "likes"?
"likes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,907 in our English list, against #35,382 for "laker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "likes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laker" and "likes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laker vs laver". 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 #295,864 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list