larvslargeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lar is a noun, large is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lar” is a noun and “large” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,323
“lar” frequency rank
#399
“large” frequency rank
40722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lar large
Definition singular of lares: a household god, particularly overseeing the family itself. Of considerable or relatively great size or extent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lar and large apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
lar
5 ch
large

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lar is /lɑː/ while large is /lɑːd͡ʒ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “lar” sits inside “large”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lar is recorded at frequency rank #40,323, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɑː/. large is at rank #399, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɑːd͡ʒ/.

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 40722, this pair ranks #264,973 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lar vs large

Shared letters: alr. Private to "lar": -. Private to "large": eg.

"lar" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "large" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • largealrge · lagre · lareg · largge · larrge · llarge · lrage

Frequency comparison

lar#40,323
large#399

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lar" and "large" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lar" is a noun and "large" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lar" or "large"?
"large" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #399 in our English list, against #40,323 for "lar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lar vs large

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lar”; for an adjective, it's “large”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list