Laos
/ˈlaʊ(s)/
"laos" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Laos” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #18,604) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #18,604
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Capital: Vientiane.
Corpus desk
Index EN-laos · Laos · English
Laos · rank #18,604 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #18,604
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH latch
Nearest frequency peer: latch (+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 neighbourhood for “Laos”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- jojo
jojo
81,400 corpus weight
- junta
junta
81,399 corpus weight
- Laos
Laos
81,397 corpus weight
- latch
latch
81,396 corpus weight
- libel
libel
81,395 corpus weight
- ligament
ligament
81,394 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Laos” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Laos |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈlaʊ(s)/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #18,604 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Laos” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for Laos is neighbouring look-alikes ("lo", "Ls", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun pronounced /ˈlaʊ(s)/. Frequency #18,604 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Gloss: "A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Capital: Vientiane.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for Laos, with forms such as "laoss", "llaos", and "loas". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lo", "Ls", "lot", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French Laos, plural of Lao, from Lao ລາວ (lāo, “Lao”). More at Lao. The correct English form is Laos, spelled L-A-O-S.
Definition
- 1A country in Southeast Asia. Official name: Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Capital: Vientiane.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Laos appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Eight staff members of a backpacker hostel in Laos have been detained by local authorities as they investigate the deaths of six foreign tourists from suspected methanol poisoning, according to state-affiliated media in the Southeast Asian country.
Etymology
Borrowed from French Laos, plural of Lao, from Lao ລາວ (lāo, “Lao”). More at Lao.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- laoss
- llaos
- loas
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Laos - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Laos"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Laos", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "Laos". Here's where to go from here.
- "Laos" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "lo". View pair
- 3 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #18,604 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.