Which to use
“last” is an adjective and “laws” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #141
- “last” frequency rank
- #1,370
- “laws” frequency rank
- 1511
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | last | laws |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind. | plural of law |
Where the eye mixes last and laws
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: last is /lɑːst/ while laws is /lɔːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1511, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
last is recorded at frequency rank #141, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɑːst/. laws is at rank #1,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔːz/.
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 1511, this pair ranks #527,275 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of last vs laws
Shared letters: als. Private to "last": t. Private to "laws": w.
"last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "laws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC