law

/lɔː/

//lɔː// noun

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

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

The verdict

“law” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #329) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#329
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.

Corpus desk

Index EN-law · law · English

law · rank #329 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #329
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH following

Nearest frequency peer: following (-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 “law”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “law” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

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

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

Key facts for law
PropertyValue
Headwordlaw
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/lɔː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#329
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “law” sits in English frequency

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for law is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "li", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /lɔː/. Frequency #329 among 2,297 “L” headwords. 20 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

law doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "li", "Lt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), borrowed from Old Norse lǫg (“law”, literally “things laid down or firmly established”), originally the plural of lag (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke”), from Proto-Germanic … The correct English form is law, spelled L-A-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
  2. 2
    The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
  3. 3
    The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
  4. 4
    A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.
  5. 5
    A rule, such as:
  6. 6
    A rule, such as:
  7. 7
    A rule, such as:
  8. 8
    A rule, such as:
  9. 9
    A rule, such as:
  10. 10
    A rule, such as:
  11. 11
    A rule, such as:
  12. 12
    The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules.
  13. 13
    A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers).
  14. 14
    The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc).
  15. 15
    Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.
  16. 16
    Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc).
  17. 17
    An allowance of distance or time (a head start) given to a weaker (human or animal) competitor in a race, to make the race more fair.
  18. 18
    A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft.
  19. 19
    One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
  20. 20
    An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
  2. Here one comes upon an all-important English trait: the respect for constitutionalism and legality, the belief in "the law" as something above the State and above the individual, something which is cruel and stupid, of course, but at any rate incorruptible. It is not that anyone imagines the law to be just. Everyone knows that there is one law for the ric…

Etymology

From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), borrowed from Old Norse lǫg (“law”, literally “things laid down or firmly established”), originally the plural of lag (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke”), from Proto-Germanic *lagą (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”). Cognate with Scots law (“law”), Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Faroese lóg (“law”), Norwegian lov (“law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”), Finnish laki (“law”). Compare typologically distant cognate Russian уложе́ние (uložénije). Displaced native Old English ǣ and ġesetnes. More at lay. Not related to legal, nor to French loi, Spanish ley, all of which ultimately derive from Latin lēx, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”).

Synonyms

actcanoncodeconventionconstitutioncorpusdecreedictatedirectivedoctrineedictenactmentguidelinelegislationmandatemaximorderordinancepandectprescriptionprohibitionregulationrulestandardstatutetenet

This word in other languages

ley(Español)loi(Français)Gesetz(Deutsch)direito(Português)

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 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "law"?
"law" is spelled L-A-W. The IPA pronunciation is /lɔː/.
What does "law" mean?
As a noun, "law" means: The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
What words are commonly confused with "law"?
"law" 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 "law"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "law" is /lɔː/. 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 "law"?
From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), borrowed from Old Norse lǫg (“law”, literally “things laid down or firmly established”), originally the plural of lag (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke”), from Proto... 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 "law", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

war#332car#334per#339run#309

What to do next

You've looked up "law". Here's where to go from here.

  • "law" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "le". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #329 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list