Which to use
“last” is an adjective and “lav” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #141
- “last” frequency rank
- #48,859
- “lav” frequency rank
- 49000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | last | lav |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind. | Clipping of lavatory. |
Where the eye mixes last and lav
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: last is /lɑːst/ while lav is /læv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
last is recorded at frequency rank #141, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɑːst/. lav is at rank #48,859, tagged as anoun, pronounced /læv/.
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 49000, this pair ranks #187,787 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of last vs lav
Shared letters: al. Private to "last": st. Private to "lav": v.
"last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lav" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- last ← alst · lasst · lastt · lats · llast