Which to use
“lapped” is an adjective and “lashed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,776
- “lapped” frequency rank
- #28,609
- “lashed” frequency rank
- 69385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapped | lashed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Being one or more complete laps behind the leader in a race. | simple past and past participle of lash |
Letter map: lapped vs lashed
Shared letters muted; letters that set lapped and lashed apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: lapped vs lashed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lapped is anadjective and lashedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lapped is recorded at frequency rank #40,776, classified as anadj. lashed is at rank #28,609, tagged as averb, pronounced /læʃt/.
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 69385, this pair ranks #54,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lapped vs lashed
Shared letters: adel. Private to "lapped": p. Private to "lashed": hs.
"lapped" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "lashed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lapped" and "lashed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lapped" vs "lashed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "lapped" and "lashed". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "lapped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lashed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapped" and "lashed" 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 #54,793 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.