lad

/læd/

//læd// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"lad" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“lad” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #8,307) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#8,307
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A boy or young man.

Corpus desk

Index EN-lad · lad · English

lad · rank #8,307 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,307
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kenneth

Nearest frequency peer: Kenneth (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “lad”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “lad” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lad vs le
33% similar
lad vs li
33% similar
lad vs Lt
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lad
PropertyValue
Headwordlad
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/læd/
Letters3
Frequency rank#8,307
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “lad”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).ladlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Kenneth” (#8,306), “Jeffrey” (#8,305), “lasts” (#8,309). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lad” is #8,307. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lad is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "li", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /læd/. Frequency #8,307 among 2,297 “L” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for lad, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "li", "Lt", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ladde (“foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy”), from late Old English *ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse ladd (“hose, woolen stocking; sock”), which may have … The correct English form is lad, spelled L-A-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    A boy or young man.
  2. 2
    A hedonistic or irresponsible young man; A Jack the lad.
  3. 3
    A familiar term of address for a young man.
  4. 4
    A groom who works with horses.
  5. 5
    The penis.
  6. 6
    A scammer.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how lad appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. How great is that danger, to which poor lads are now exposed, when placed on shipboard to learn the art of sailing! Five lads, training up for the seas, were now on board this ship; […]
  2. The lad, his son, had obtained a Jew's-harp, and learned to play upon it the profane airs of "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," "St. Patrick's Day," and "Auld Lang Syne."

Etymology

From Middle English ladde (“foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy”), from late Old English *ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse ladd (“hose, woolen stocking; sock”), which may have undergone semantic shift to mean a term of abuse (e.g. foolish youth, youngster of lower social status, etc.); thence by connotative amelioration coming to mean any young fellow. Compare Norwegian ladd (“rough sock, woolen or felt slipper”) and the -ladd in compounds Askeladd/Askeladden (a nickname in fairy tales, "Ash Lad") and tusseladd (“nincompoop”). See also Swedish ladder (“old shoes”), lodde (“Frisian shoe”), lädder (“socks”), all said to be related to Old Norse loðinn (“hairy, shaggy, woolly”), loddi (“shaggy dog”).

This word in other languages

niño(Español)garçon(Français)Junge(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lad"?
"lad" is spelled L-A-D. The IPA pronunciation is /læd/.
What does "lad" mean?
As a noun, "lad" means: A boy or young man.
What words are commonly confused with "lad"?
"lad" is commonly confused with "le", "li", "Lt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lad"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lad" is /læd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "lad"?
From Middle English ladde (“foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy”), from late Old English *ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse ladd (“hose, woolen stocking; sock”), which... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lad", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

gif#8,294opt#8,325fog#8,288EVA#8,283

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list