lai

/laɪ/

//laɪ// noun

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

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

The verdict

“lai” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,883) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#19,883
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A mostly North European medieval form of lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance, with stanzas that do not repeat.

Corpus desk

Index EN-lai · lai · English

lai · rank #19,883 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,883
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH laced

Nearest frequency peer: laced (-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 “lai”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “lai” 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).

lai vs le
33% similar
lai vs li
67% similar
lai vs Lt
0% similar

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

Key facts for lai
PropertyValue
Headwordlai
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/laɪ/
Letters3
Frequency rank#19,883
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “lai”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).lailands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “laced” (#19,882), “Lincolnshire” (#19,885), “Kolkata” (#19,880). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lai” is #19,883. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lai is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "li", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /laɪ/. Frequency #19,883 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Gloss: "A mostly North European medieval form of lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance, with stanzas that do not repeat.".

No misspelling variants are generated for lai in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "li", "Lt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lai, lay, from Old French lai (“song, lyric, poem”), from Old Frankish *laik, *laih (“play, melody, song”), from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, *laikiz (“jump, play, dance, hymn”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to jump, spring, play”). Akin… The correct English form is lai, spelled L-A-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    A mostly North European medieval form of lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance, with stanzas that do not repeat.

Etymology

From Middle English lai, lay, from Old French lai (“song, lyric, poem”), from Old Frankish *laik, *laih (“play, melody, song”), from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, *laikiz (“jump, play, dance, hymn”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to jump, spring, play”). Akin to Old High German leih (“a play, skit, melody, song”), Middle High German leich (“piece of music, epic song played on a harp”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌺𐍃 (laiks, “a dance”), Old English lācan (“to move quickly, fence, sing”). More at lake.

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 "lai"?
"lai" is spelled L-A-I. The IPA pronunciation is /laɪ/.
What does "lai" mean?
As a noun, "lai" means: A mostly North European medieval form of lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance, with stanzas that do not repeat.
What words are commonly confused with "lai"?
"lai" 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 "lai"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lai" is /laɪ/. 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 "lai"?
From Middle English lai, lay, from Old French lai (“song, lyric, poem”), from Old Frankish *laik, *laih (“play, melody, song”), from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, *laikiz (“jump, play, dance, hymn”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to jump, spring, pl... 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 "lai", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Jeb#19,872mer#19,904IDF#19,861GUI#19,850

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list