lash
/læʃ/
"lash" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lash” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,657 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,657
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The thong or braided cord of a whip, with which the blow is given.
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 | lash |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /læʃ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #17,657 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lash” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lash is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /læʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,657 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for lash, with forms such as "alsh", "lahs", and "lashh". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Ls", "law", "los", 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 lashe, lasshe, lasche (“a stroke; the flexible end of a whip”), from Proto-Germanic *laskô (“flap of fabric, strap”). Cognate with Dutch lasch, las (“a piece; seal; joint; notch; seam”), German Low German Laske, Lask (“a flap; dag; strap… The correct English form is lash, spelled L-A-S-H.
Definition
- 1The thong or braided cord of a whip, with which the blow is given.
- 2A leash in which an animal is caught or held; hence, a snare.
- 3A stroke with a whip, or anything pliant and tough, often given as a punishment.
- 4A quick and violent sweeping movement, as of an animal's tail; a swish.
- 5A stroke of satire or sarcasm; an expression or retort that cuts or gives pain; a cut.
- 6A hair growing from the edge of the eyelid; an eyelash.
- 7In carpet weaving, a group of strings for lifting simultaneously certain yarns, to form the figure.
- 8Flowering plants of genus Blepharis.
- 9An attempt; a go at something.
- 10A quantity, a great number or amount (e.g. of rain or milk).
Etymology
From Middle English lashe, lasshe, lasche (“a stroke; the flexible end of a whip”), from Proto-Germanic *laskô (“flap of fabric, strap”). Cognate with Dutch lasch, las (“a piece; seal; joint; notch; seam”), German Low German Laske, Lask (“a flap; dag; strap”), German Lasche (“a flap; joint; strap; tongue; scarf”), Swedish lask (“scarf”), Icelandic laski (“the bottom part of a glove”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: alsh,lahs,lashh,lassh,llash,lsah
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lash - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “lash”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-A-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /læʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Ls” - see the side-by-side comparison. lash vs Ls
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.