Which to use
“lapel” and “lapses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,470
- “lapel” frequency rank
- #32,056
- “lapses” frequency rank
- 70526
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapel | lapses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Each of the two triangular pieces of cloth on the front of a jacket or coat that are folded back below the throat, leaving a triangular opening between. | plural of lapse |
Where the eye mixes lapel and lapses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lapel runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against lapses's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lapel with lapses
A purely visual mix-up. lapel (/ləˈpɛl/) and lapses (/ˈlæpsɪz/) 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 70526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lapel is recorded at frequency rank #38,470, classified as anoun, pronounced /ləˈpɛl/. lapses is at rank #32,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlæpsɪz/.
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 70526, this pair ranks #50,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lapel vs lapses
Shared letters: aelp. Private to "lapel": -. Private to "lapses": s.
"lapel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lapses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lapel" and "lapses" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lapel" or "lapses"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lapel" and "lapses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lapel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lapses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapel" and "lapses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapel vs lope". 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 #50,236 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.