lambsvslastsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,561
“lambs” frequency rank
#8,309
“lasts” frequency rank
29870
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lambs lasts
Definition plural of lamb plural of last

Where the eye mixes lambs and lasts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
lambs
5 ch
lasts

Why the eye confuses lambs with lasts

A purely visual mix-up. lambs (/læmz/) 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 29870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lambs is recorded at frequency rank #21,561, classified as anoun, pronounced /læmz/. 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 29870, this pair ranks #359,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lambs vs lasts

Shared letters: als. Private to "lambs": bm. Private to "lasts": t.

"lambs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "lasts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lambsalmbs · labms · lambbs · lambss · lammbs · lamsb · llambs · lmabs
  • lastsalsts · lassts · lastss · lastts · latss · llasts · lsats

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lambs" and "lasts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/læmz/ versus /lɑːsts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lambs" or "lasts"?
"lasts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,309 in our English list, against #21,561 for "lambs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "lambs" and "lasts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lambs" 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 #359,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lambs" and "lasts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lambo vs lambs". 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 #359,349 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