Which to use
“laud” is a noun and “lay” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,152
- “laud” frequency rank
- #2,302
- “lay” frequency rank
- 49454
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laud | lay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Glorification or praise. | To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position. |
Where the eye mixes laud and lay
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: laud vs lay
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laud is /lɔːd/ while lay is /leɪ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laud is recorded at frequency rank #47,152, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɔːd/. lay is at rank #2,302, tagged as averb, pronounced /leɪ/.
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 49454, this pair ranks #183,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laud vs lay
Shared letters: al. Private to "laud": du. Private to "lay": y.
"laud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lay" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- laud ← ladu · laudd · llaud · luad
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laud" and "lay" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "laud" vs "lay" - 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 "laud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laud" and "lay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laud vs lav". 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 #183,437 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.