Which to use
“late” is an adjective and “lav” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #456
- “late” frequency rank
- #48,859
- “lav” frequency rank
- 49315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | late | lav |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Near the end of a period of time. | Clipping of lavatory. |
Where the eye mixes late and lav
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. late runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lav's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses late with lav
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: late is /leɪt/ 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 49315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
late is recorded at frequency rank #456, classified as anadj, pronounced /leɪt/. 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 49315, this pair ranks #184,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of late vs lav
Shared letters: al. Private to "late": et. Private to "lav": v.
"late" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lav" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- late ← alte · laet · llate · ltae
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "late" and "lav" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "late" vs "lav" - which ranks higher?
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 "late" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lav" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "late" and "lav" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lav 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 #184,818 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.