Which to use
“lamp” and “law” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,586
- “lamp” frequency rank
- #329
- “law” frequency rank
- 6915
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lamp | law |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A device that generates heat, light or other radiation. Especially an electric light bulb. | The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. |
Where the eye mixes lamp and law
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lamp and law
A purely visual mix-up. lamp (/ˈlæ̞mp/) and law (/lɔː/) 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 6915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lamp is recorded at frequency rank #6,586, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlæ̞mp/. law is at rank #329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔː/.
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 6915, this pair ranks #509,425 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lamp vs law
Shared letters: al. Private to "lamp": mp. Private to "law": w.
"lamp" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lamp ← almp · lammp · lampp · lapm · llamp · lmap
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lamp" and "law" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lamp" or "law"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lamp" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "law" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,425 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lamp" and "law" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lamp vs lav". 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 #509,425 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.