largevslargestTell them apart

Which to use

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

#399
“large” frequency rank
#1,345
“largest” frequency rank
1744
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature large largest
Definition Of considerable or relatively great size or extent. superlative form of large: most large

Where the eye mixes large and largest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
large
7 ch
largest

Visual trap between large and largest

A purely visual mix-up. large (/lɑːd͡ʒ/) and largest (/ˈlɑːd͡ʒɪst/) 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 extra letter(s) - “large” sits inside “largest”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

large is recorded at frequency rank #399, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɑːd͡ʒ/. largest is at rank #1,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɑːd͡ʒɪst/.

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 1744, this pair ranks #526,763 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of large vs largest

Shared letters: aeglr. Private to "large": -. Private to "largest": st.

"large" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "largest" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • largealrge · lagre · lareg · largge · larrge · llarge · lrage
  • largestalrgest · lagrest · laregst · largesst · largestt · largets · larggest · largset

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "large" and "largest" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɑːd͡ʒ/ versus /ˈlɑːd͡ʒɪst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "large" vs "largest" - which ranks higher?
"large" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #399 in our English list, against #1,345 for "largest". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "large" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "largest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #526,763 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "large" and "largest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "large vs lyre". 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 #526,763 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