lashedvslastedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,609
“lashed” frequency rank
#6,158
“lasted” frequency rank
34767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lashed lasted
Definition simple past and past participle of lash simple past and past participle of last

Where the eye mixes lashed and lasted

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

6 ch
lashed
6 ch
lasted

Visual trap between lashed and lasted

A purely visual mix-up. lashed (/læʃt/) and lasted (/ˈlɑːstɪd/) 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 a single letter - h in “lashed” becomes t in “lasted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lashed is recorded at frequency rank #28,609, classified as averb, pronounced /læʃt/. lasted is at rank #6,158, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlɑːstɪd/.

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 34767, this pair ranks #317,891 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lashed vs lasted

Shared letters: adels. Private to "lashed": h. Private to "lasted": t.

"lashed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lasted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lashedalshed · lahsed · lasehd · lashde · lashedd · lashhed · lasshed · llashed
  • lastedalsted · lasetd · lassted · lastde · lastedd · lastted · latsed · llasted

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lashed" for "lasted" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/læʃt/ versus /ˈlɑːstɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "lashed" or "lasted" show up more?
"lasted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,158 in our English list, against #28,609 for "lashed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lashed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lasted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #317,891 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lashed" and "lasted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lashed vs loathed". 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 #317,891 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