lapisvslassWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,012
“lapis” frequency rank
#26,145
“lass” frequency rank
64157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lapis lass
Definition Ellipsis of lapis lazuli. A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.

Where the eye mixes lapis and lass

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

5 ch
lapis
4 ch
lass

Visual trap between lapis and lass

A purely visual mix-up. lapis (/ˈlæpɪs/) and lass (/læs/) 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 64157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lapis is recorded at frequency rank #38,012, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlæpɪs/. lass is at rank #26,145, tagged as anoun, pronounced /læs/.

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 64157, this pair ranks #79,181 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lapis vs lass

Shared letters: als. Private to "lapis": ip. Private to "lass": -.

"lapis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lapisalpis · laips · lapiss · lappis · lapsi · llapis · lpais
  • lassalss · llass · lsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lapis" and "lass" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlæpɪs/ versus /læs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lapis" or "lass"?
"lass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,145 in our English list, against #38,012 for "lapis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "lapis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,181 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lapis" and "lass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapis vs Levis". 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 #79,181 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