Which to use
“laps” and “lasso” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,910
- “laps” frequency rank
- #39,891
- “lasso” frequency rank
- 51801
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laps | lasso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lap | A long rope with a sliding loop on one end, generally used in ranching to catch cattle and horses. |
Where the eye mixes laps and lasso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laps runs 4 letters (CVCC) against lasso's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laps vs lasso
A purely visual mix-up. laps (/læps/) and lasso (/læsˈuː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laps is recorded at frequency rank #11,910, classified as anoun, pronounced /læps/. lasso is at rank #39,891, tagged as anoun, pronounced /læsˈuː/.
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 51801, this pair ranks #162,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laps vs lasso
Shared letters: als. Private to "laps": p. Private to "lasso": o.
"laps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lasso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laps" for "lasso" ever safe?
Frequency check: "laps" vs "lasso" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "laps" and "lasso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lasso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laps" and "lasso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lasso vs Laszlo". 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 #162,372 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.