lacavslacraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,780
“laca” frequency rank
#26,114
“lacra” frequency rank
64894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laca lacra
Definition Barniz, cubierta de maderas y otros materiales. Secuela de una enfermedad.

Where the eye mixes laca and lacra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laca runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lacra's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
laca
5 ch
lacra

Why the eye confuses laca with lacra

A purely visual mix-up. laca ([ˈlaka]) and lacra ([ˈlakɾa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laca is recorded at frequency rank #38,780, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaka]. lacra is at rank #26,114, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlakɾa].

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 64894, this pair ranks #44,239 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laca vs lacra

Shared letters: acl. Private to "laca": -. Private to "lacra": r.

"laca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lacra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laca ← alca · laac · lacca · lcaa · llaca
  • lacra ← alcra · lacar · laccra · lacrra · larca · llacra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laca" for "lacra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaka] versus [ˈlakɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "laca" vs "lacra" - which ranks higher?
"lacra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,114 in our Spanish list, against #38,780 for "laca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "laca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lacra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,239 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laca" and "lacra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs Lyra". 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 #44,239 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