lol
/ɛl.əʊˈɛl/
"lol" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lol” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #948 in English word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #948
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative form of LOL.
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 | lol |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /ɛl.əʊˈɛl/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #948 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lol” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lol is 3 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɛl.əʊˈɛl/. Corpus data places it at rank #948 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Alternative form of LOL.".
No misspelling variants are generated for lol in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Lt", "LP", "Ls", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is lol, spelled L-O-L.
Definition
- 1Alternative form of LOL.
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 "lol"?
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Using “lol”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɛl.əʊˈɛl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Lt” - see the side-by-side comparison. lol vs Lt
- 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.