SLA vs slaw, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“SLA” is a name and “slaw” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,938
“SLA” frequency rank: #47,911
“slaw” frequency rank: 83849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	SLA	slaw
Definition	Initialism of Sudan Liberation Army.	Coleslaw.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set SLA and slaw apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

SLA

4 ch

slaw

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: SLA is /ɛs ɛl eɪ̯/ while slaw is /slɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “SLA” sits inside “slaw”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

SLA is recorded at frequency rank #35,938, classified as aname, pronounced /ɛs ɛl eɪ̯/. slaw is at rank #47,911, tagged as anoun, pronounced /slɔː/.

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 83849, this pair ranks #13,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of SLA vs slaw

Shared letters: als. Private to "SLA": -. Private to "slaw": w.

"SLA" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "slaw" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

slaw ← lsaw · salw · slaww · sllaw · slwa · sslaw

Frequency comparison

SLA#35,938

slaw#47,911

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "SLA" and "slaw" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "SLA" is a name and "slaw" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "SLA" or "slaw"?

"SLA" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,938 in our English list, against #47,911 for "slaw". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering SLA vs slaw

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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