LEMvslolTell them apart

Quick tell: LEM is a noun, lol is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“LEM” is a noun and “lol” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,810
“LEM” frequency rank
#948
“lol” frequency rank
36758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature LEM lol
Definition Originally Lunar Excursion Module, latterly Lunar Module. Alternative form of LOL.

Letter map: LEM vs lol

Shared letters muted; letters that set LEM and lol apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
LEM
3 ch
lol

Part-of-speech tell for LEM / lol

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: LEM is anoun and lolanintj. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

LEM is recorded at frequency rank #35,810, classified as anoun. lol is at rank #948, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ɛl.əʊˈɛl/.

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 36758, this pair ranks #300,411 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of LEM vs lol

Shared letters: l. Private to "LEM": em. Private to "lol": o.

"LEM" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "LEM" for "lol" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "LEM" is a noun and "lol" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "LEM" or "lol" show up more?
"lol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #948 in our English list, against #35,810 for "LEM". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "LEM" vs "lol" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "LEM" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #300,411 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "LEM" and "lol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LEM vs LSC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #300,411 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list