Which to use
“lapped” is an adjective and “lapse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,776
- “lapped” frequency rank
- #15,206
- “lapse” frequency rank
- 55982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapped | lapse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Being one or more complete laps behind the leader in a race. | A temporary failure; a slip. |
Letter map: lapped vs lapse
Shared letters muted; letters that set lapped and lapse apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Role in the sentence - lapped and lapse
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lapped is anadjective and lapseanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lapped is recorded at frequency rank #40,776, classified as anadj. lapse is at rank #15,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced /læps/.
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 55982, this pair ranks #129,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lapped vs lapse
Shared letters: aelp. Private to "lapped": d. Private to "lapse": s.
"lapped" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lapse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lapped" and "lapse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lapped" or "lapse" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "lapped" and "lapse". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "lapped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lapse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapped" and "lapse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lapped vs leaped". 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 #129,546 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.