late vs lav, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set late and lav apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

late

3 ch

lav

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

late#456

lav#48,859

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "late" and "lav" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "late" is an adjective and "lav" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "late" or "lav"?

"late" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #456 in our English list, against #48,859 for "lav". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering late vs lav

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “late”; for a noun, it's “lav”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “late” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable