larvslazarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,323
“lar” frequency rank
#37,065
“lazar” frequency rank
77388
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lar lazar
Definition singular of lares: a household god, particularly overseeing the family itself. Synonym of leper: a person suffering from Hansen's disease; a person suffering any contagious disease requiring similar isolation.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
lar
5 ch
lazar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lar (/lɑː/) and lazar (/ˈleɪzə/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77388, 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/. lazar is at rank #37,065, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪzə/.

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 77388, this pair ranks #27,424 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lar vs lazar

Shared letters: alr. Private to "lar": -. Private to "lazar": z.

"lar" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lazar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lazaralzar · laazr · lazarr · lazra · lazzar · llazar · lzaar

Frequency comparison

lar#40,323
lazar#37,065

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lar" and "lazar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɑː/ versus /ˈleɪzə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lar" or "lazar"?
"lazar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,065 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.

Remembering lar vs lazar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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