larvslashWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,323
“lar” frequency rank
#17,657
“lash” frequency rank
57980
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lar lash
Definition singular of lares: a household god, particularly overseeing the family itself. The thong or braided cord of a whip, with which the blow is given.

Where the eye mixes lar and lash

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
lar
4 ch
lash

Visual trap between lar and lash

A purely visual mix-up. lar (/lɑː/) and lash (/læʃ/) 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 57980, 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/. lash is at rank #17,657, tagged as anoun, pronounced /læʃ/.

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 57980, this pair ranks #115,650 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lar vs lash

Shared letters: al. Private to "lar": r. Private to "lash": hs.

"lar" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lashalsh · lahs · lashh · lassh · llash · lsah

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lar" and "lash" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/lɑː/ versus /læʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "lar" or "lash" show up more?
"lash" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,657 in our English list, against #40,323 for "lar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "lar" and "lash" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,650 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lar" and "lash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lar 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 #115,650 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