Which to use
“lapped” is an adjective and “leaped” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,776
- “lapped” frequency rank
- #38,472
- “leaped” frequency rank
- 79248
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapped | leaped |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Being one or more complete laps behind the leader in a race. | simple past and past participle of leap |
Letter map: lapped vs leaped
Shared letters muted; letters that set lapped and leaped apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. lapped (CVCCVC) and leaped (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: lapped vs leaped
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lapped is anadjective and leapedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lapped is recorded at frequency rank #40,776, classified as anadj. leaped is at rank #38,472, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːpt/.
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 79248, this pair ranks #22,556 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lapped vs leaped
Shared letters: adelp. Private to "lapped": -. Private to "leaped": -.
"lapped" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "leaped" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lapped" and "leaped" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lapped" or "leaped"?
After this comparison
You've compared "lapped" and "leaped". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "lapped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leaped" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,556 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapped" and "leaped" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leaker 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 #22,556 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.