lapsvslisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“laps” and “lis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,910
“laps” frequency rank
#25,822
“lis” frequency rank
37732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laps lis
Definition plural of lap Clipping of fleur-de-lis.

Letter map: laps vs lis

Shared letters muted; letters that set laps and lis apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
laps
3 ch
lis

Pair insight - laps / lis

laps and lis are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37732, 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/. lis is at rank #25,822, tagged as anoun.

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 37732, this pair ranks #291,996 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laps vs lis

Shared letters: ls. Private to "laps": ap. Private to "lis": i.

"laps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lapslapps · lapss · lasp · llaps · lpas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laps" for "lis" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "laps" vs "lis" - which ranks higher?
"laps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,910 in our English list, against #25,822 for "lis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "laps" vs "lis" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,996 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laps" and "lis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lis vs LSC". 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 #291,996 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