lagovslasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lago is a noun, las is an article, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lago” is a noun and “las” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,784
“lago” frequency rank
#15
“las” frequency rank
2799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lago las
Definition Cuerpo de agua, generalmente dulce, de tamaño considerable, que se encuentra separado del mar. Artículo determinado femenino plural. Antecede a sustantivos femeninos en plural denotando que estos deben tomarse como información general consabida.

Where the eye mixes lago and las

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

4 ch
lago
3 ch
las

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lago is [ˈlaɣ̞o] while las is [las]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lago is recorded at frequency rank #2,784, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlaɣ̞o]. las is at rank #15, tagged as anarticle, pronounced [las].

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 2799, this pair ranks #319,613 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lago vs las

Shared letters: al. Private to "lago": go. Private to "las": s.

"lago" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "las" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lagolaggo · laog · lgao · llago

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lago" and "las" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lago" is a noun and "las" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lago" or "las"?
"las" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15 in our Spanish list, against #2,784 for "lago". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list