Which to use
“lapped” is an adjective and “lapsed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,776
- “lapped” frequency rank
- #31,237
- “lapsed” frequency rank
- 72013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapped | lapsed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Being one or more complete laps behind the leader in a race. | simple past and past participle of lapse |
Letter map: lapped vs lapsed
Shared letters muted; letters that set lapped and lapsed apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - lapped and lapsed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lapped is anadjective and lapsedaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - p in “lapped” becomes s in “lapsed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lapped is recorded at frequency rank #40,776, classified as anadj. lapsed is at rank #31,237, tagged as averb, pronounced /læpst/.
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 72013, this pair ranks #44,532 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lapped vs lapsed
Shared letters: adelp. Private to "lapped": -. Private to "lapsed": s.
"lapped" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lapsed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lapped" and "lapsed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lapped" vs "lapsed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lapped" and "lapsed".
- Full dictionary entry for "lapped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lapsed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,532 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapped" and "lapsed" 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 #44,532 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.