Which to use
“lapse” and “lapses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,206
- “lapse” frequency rank
- #32,056
- “lapses” frequency rank
- 47262
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lapse | lapses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A temporary failure; a slip. | plural of lapse |
Where the eye mixes lapse and lapses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lapse vs lapses
A purely visual mix-up. lapse (/læps/) and lapses (/ˈlæpsɪz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “lapse” sits inside “lapses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lapse is recorded at frequency rank #15,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /læps/. lapses is at rank #32,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlæpsɪz/.
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 47262, this pair ranks #204,074 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lapse vs lapses
Shared letters: aelps. Private to "lapse": -. Private to "lapses": -.
"lapse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "lapses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lapse" and "lapses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lapse" or "lapses" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lapse" and "lapses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lapse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lapses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #204,074 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lapse" and "lapses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lances vs lapses". 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 #204,074 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.