Which to use
“lav” and “lava” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,859
- “lav” frequency rank
- #10,720
- “lava” frequency rank
- 59579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lav | lava |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of lavatory. | The molten rock ejected by a volcano from a vent such as a crater or fissure; magma that has breached the surface of the earth. |
Where the eye mixes lav and lava
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lav and lava
A purely visual mix-up. lav (/læv/) and lava (/ˈlɑːvə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “lav” sits inside “lava”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lav is recorded at frequency rank #48,859, classified as anoun, pronounced /læv/. lava is at rank #10,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɑːvə/.
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 59579, this pair ranks #105,316 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lav vs lava
Shared letters: alv. Private to "lav": -. Private to "lava": -.
"lav" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lava" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lava ← laav · lavva · llava · lvaa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lav" for "lava" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lav" or "lava"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lav" and "lava" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lav" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #105,316 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lav" and "lava" 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 #105,316 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.