Which to use
“land” and “law” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #608
- “land” frequency rank
- #329
- “law” frequency rank
- 937
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | land | law |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The part of Earth which is not covered by oceans or other bodies of water. | The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. |
Where the eye mixes land and law
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between land and law
A purely visual mix-up. land (/lænd/) 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 937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
land is recorded at frequency rank #608, classified as anoun, pronounced /lænd/. 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 937, this pair ranks #528,472 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of land vs law
Shared letters: al. Private to "land": dn. Private to "law": w.
"land" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- land ← alnd · ladn · landd · lannd · lland · lnad
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "land" and "law" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "land" vs "law" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "land" 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 #528,472 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "land" and "law" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "law vs LSC". 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 #528,472 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.