Which to use
“last” is an adjective and “leapt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #141
- “last” frequency rank
- #27,194
- “leapt” frequency rank
- 27335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | last | leapt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind. | simple past and past participle of leap |
Where the eye mixes last and leapt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between last and leapt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: last is /lɑːst/ while leapt is /lɛpt/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
last is recorded at frequency rank #141, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɑːst/. leapt is at rank #27,194, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɛpt/.
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 27335, this pair ranks #379,759 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of last vs leapt
Shared letters: alt. Private to "last": s. Private to "leapt": ep.
"last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "leapt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "last" for "leapt" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "last" or "leapt" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "last" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leapt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #379,759 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "last" and "leapt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leapt vs LSAT". 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 #379,759 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.