labsvslensTell them apart

Which to use

“labs” and “lens” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,642
“labs” frequency rank
#47,908
“lens” frequency rank
84550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature labs lens
Definition Forma del plural de lab. Lente.

Where the eye mixes labs and lens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. labs and lens follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
labs
4 ch
lens

Visual trap between labs and lens

A purely visual mix-up. labs (/læbz/) and lens (/lɛnz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labs is recorded at frequency rank #36,642, classified as anoun, pronounced /læbz/. lens is at rank #47,908, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɛnz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 84550, this pair ranks #6,952 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of labs vs lens

Shared letters: ls. Private to "labs": ab. Private to "lens": en.

"labs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • labs ← albs · labbs · labss · lasb · lavs · llabs
  • lens ← elns · lenns · lenss · lesn · llens · lnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "labs" and "lens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/læbz/ versus /lɛnz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "labs" vs "lens" - which ranks higher?
"labs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,642 in our Spanish list, against #47,908 for "lens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "labs" and "lens" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "labs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,952 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "labs" and "lens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lens vs llené". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #6,952 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list