Which to use
“lass” is a noun and “last” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,145
- “lass” frequency rank
- #141
- “last” frequency rank
- 26286
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lass | last |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A girl; also (by extension), a young woman. | Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind. |
Where the eye mixes lass and last
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lass and last
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lass is /læs/ while last is /lɑːst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “lass” becomes t in “last”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lass is recorded at frequency rank #26,145, classified as anoun, pronounced /læs/. last is at rank #141, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɑːst/.
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 26286, this pair ranks #387,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lass vs last
Shared letters: als. Private to "lass": -. Private to "last": t.
"lass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lass" for "last" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "lass" or "last" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "last" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,846 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lass" and "last" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lass vs LSC". 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 #387,846 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.