lacavslawWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,780
“laca” frequency rank
#13,081
“law” frequency rank
51861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laca law
Definition Barniz, cubierta de maderas y otros materiales. Ley₁₋₉.

Where the eye mixes laca and law

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
laca
3 ch
law

Visual trap between laca and law

A purely visual mix-up. laca ([ˈlaka]) and law (/lɔː/) 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 51861, 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]. law is at rank #13,081, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɔː/.

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 51861, this pair ranks #95,653 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laca vs law

Shared letters: al. Private to "laca": c. Private to "law": w.

"laca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lacaalca · laac · lacca · lcaa · llaca

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laca" and "law" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlaka] versus /lɔː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "laca" or "law" show up more?
"law" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,081 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.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "law" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,653 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laca" and "law" 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 #95,653 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