Which to use
“lav” and “los” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,859
- “lav” frequency rank
- #1,728
- “los” frequency rank
- 50587
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lav | los |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of lavatory. | A medium-sized wildcat, most of them part of the genus Lynx. |
Where the eye mixes lav and los
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. lav (/læv/) and los (/lɒs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50587, 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/. los is at rank #1,728, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɒs/.
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 50587, this pair ranks #172,932 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lav vs los
Shared letters: l. Private to "lav": av. Private to "los": os.
"lav" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "los" · 3 letters · shape CVC