lappedvslastedTell them apart

Quick tell: lapped is a adjective, lasted is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lapped” is an adjective and “lasted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,776
“lapped” frequency rank
#6,158
“lasted” frequency rank
46934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lapped lasted
Definition Being one or more complete laps behind the leader in a race. simple past and past participle of last

Letter map: lapped vs lasted

Shared letters muted; letters that set lapped and lasted apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
lapped
6 ch
lasted

Role in the sentence - lapped and lasted

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lapped is anadjective and lastedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lapped is recorded at frequency rank #40,776, classified as anadj. lasted is at rank #6,158, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlɑːstɪd/.

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 46934, this pair ranks #207,127 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lapped vs lasted

Shared letters: adel. Private to "lapped": p. Private to "lasted": st.

"lapped" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lasted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lappedalpped · laped · lapepd · lappde · lappedd · llapped · lpaped
  • lastedalsted · lasetd · lassted · lastde · lastedd · lastted · latsed · llasted

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lapped" and "lasted" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lapped" is an adjective and "lasted" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lapped" vs "lasted" - which ranks higher?
"lasted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,158 in our English list, against #40,776 for "lapped". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lapped" and "lasted".

  • Full dictionary entry for "lapped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lasted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #207,127 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lapped" and "lasted" 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 #207,127 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