Which to use
“lard” and “law” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,715
- “lard” frequency rank
- #329
- “law” frequency rank
- 30044
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lard | law |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fat from the abdomen of a pig, especially as prepared for use in cooking or pharmacy. | The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. |
Where the eye mixes lard and law
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lard with law
A purely visual mix-up. lard (/lɑːd/) and law (/lɔː/) 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 30044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lard is recorded at frequency rank #29,715, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɑːd/. law is at rank #329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔː/.
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 30044, this pair ranks #357,823 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lard vs law
Shared letters: al. Private to "lard": dr. Private to "law": w.
"lard" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lard ← alrd · ladr · lardd · larrd · llard · lrad
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lard" for "law" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lard" or "law"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lard" and "law" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "law" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,823 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lard" and "law" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lard vs lav". 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 #357,823 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.