lamvslawTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,117
“lam” frequency rank
#13,081
“law” frequency rank
36198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lam law
Definition Cordero. Ley₁₋₉.

Where the eye mixes lam and law

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

3 ch
lam
3 ch
law

Look-alike desk: lam vs law

A purely visual mix-up. lam ([lɑm]) 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 a single letter - m in “lam” becomes w in “law”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lam is recorded at frequency rank #23,117, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɑm]. 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 36198, this pair ranks #181,916 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lam vs law

Shared letters: al. Private to "lam": m. Private to "law": w.

"lam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lam" and "law" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([lɑm] versus /lɔː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "lam" 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 #23,117 for "lam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lam" 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 #181,916 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lam" and "law" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lac vs lam". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #181,916 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