lao
[ˈlao]
The verdict
“lao” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #22,079 in Spanish word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #22,079
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Que pertenece o concierne a la etnia mayoritaria de Laos
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 | lao |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ˈlao] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #22,079 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lao” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for lao is 3 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈlao]. Corpus data places it at rank #22,079 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Que pertenece o concierne a la etnia mayoritaria de Laos".
No misspelling variants are generated for lao in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lo", "le", "li", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is lao, spelled L-A-O.
Definition
- 1Que pertenece o concierne a la etnia mayoritaria de Laos
This word in other languages
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "lao"?
What does "lao" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "lao"?
How do you pronounce "lao"?
What language does "lao" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “lao”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is L-A-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈlao] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lo” - see the side-by-side comparison. lao vs lo
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish 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.