lauvslaudoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: lau is a num, laudo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lau” is a num and “laudo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,334
“lau” frequency rank
#45,409
“laudo” frequency rank
70743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lau laudo
Definition Cuatro. Resolución o decisión tomada por un árbitro o juez mediador; tales sentencias se ejecutan ante los tribunales ordinarios.

Where the eye mixes lau and laudo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lau runs 3 letters (CVV) against laudo's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
lau
5 ch
laudo

Look-alike desk: lau vs laudo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lau is /law/ while laudo is [ˈlawð̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “lau” sits inside “laudo”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lau is recorded at frequency rank #25,334, classified as anum, pronounced /law/. laudo is at rank #45,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlawð̞o].

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 70743, this pair ranks #29,033 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lau vs laudo

Shared letters: alu. Private to "lau": -. Private to "laudo": do.

"lau" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "laudo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laudo ← aludo · laduo · lauddo · lauod · llaudo · luado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lau" and "laudo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lau" is a num and "laudo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lau" vs "laudo" - which ranks higher?
"lau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,334 in our Spanish list, against #45,409 for "laudo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laudo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,033 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lau" and "laudo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laude vs laudo". 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 #29,033 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