larkvslaudWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,221
“lark” frequency rank
#47,152
“laud” frequency rank
71373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lark laud
Definition Any of various small, singing passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Glorification or praise.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lark and laud apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lark
4 ch
laud

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lark (/lɑːk/) and laud (/lɔːd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lark is recorded at frequency rank #24,221, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɑːk/. laud is at rank #47,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔːd/.

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 71373, this pair ranks #46,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lark vs laud

Shared letters: al. Private to "lark": kr. Private to "laud": du.

"lark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "laud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • larkalrk · lakr · larkk · larrk · llark · lrak
  • laudladu · laudd · llaud · luad

Frequency comparison

lark#24,221
laud#47,152

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lark" and "laud" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɑːk/ versus /lɔːd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lark" or "laud"?
"lark" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,221 in our English list, against #47,152 for "laud". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lark vs laud

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 “lark” 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