laicosvslancesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: laicos is a adjective, lances is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“laicos” is an adjective and “lances” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,781
“laicos” frequency rank
#44,279
“lances” frequency rank
64060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laicos lances
Definition Forma del plural de laico. Forma del plural de lance.

Where the eye mixes laicos and lances

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. laicos (CVVCVC) and lances (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
laicos
6 ch
lances

Why the eye confuses laicos with lances

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laicos is [ˈlajkos] while lances is [ˈlãnses]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laicos is recorded at frequency rank #19,781, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈlajkos]. lances is at rank #44,279, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlãnses].

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 64060, this pair ranks #46,728 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laicos vs lances

Shared letters: acls. Private to "laicos": io. Private to "lances": en.

"laicos" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "lances" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laicos ← alicos · lacios · laiccos · laicoss · laicso · laiocs · liacos · llaicos
  • lances ← alnces · lacnes · lancces · lancess · lancse · lanecs · lannces · lanses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "laicos" and "lances" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laicos" is an adjective and "lances" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "laicos" or "lances" show up more?
"laicos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,781 in our Spanish list, against #44,279 for "lances". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laicos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,728 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laicos" and "lances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lanceros vs lances". 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 #46,728 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