Which to use
“lapis” and “lopes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,012
- “lapis” frequency rank
- #44,310
- “lopes” frequency rank
- 82322
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapis | lopes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ellipsis of lapis lazuli. | plural of lope |
Where the eye mixes lapis and lopes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lapis and lopes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses lapis with lopes
A purely visual mix-up. lapis (/ˈlæpɪs/) and lopes (/loʊps/) 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 82322, 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/. lopes is at rank #44,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced /loʊps/.
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 82322, this pair ranks #15,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lapis vs lopes
Shared letters: lps. Private to "lapis": ai. Private to "lopes": eo.
"lapis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lopes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lapis" and "lopes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "lapis" vs "lopes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lapis" and "lopes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lapis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lopes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapis" and "lopes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs lopes". 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 #15,919 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.