late

\lat\

/\lat\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“late” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #28,229) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#28,229
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Latte.

Corpus desk

Index FR-late · late · French

late · rank #28,229 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,229
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH Lagardère

Nearest frequency peer: Lagardère (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “late”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “late” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

late vs le
50% similar
late vs LT
0% similar
late vs lit
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for late
PropertyValue
Headwordlate
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\lat\
Letters4
Frequency rank#28,229
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “late” se place dans la fréquence du français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).latese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Lagardère » (#28,228), « laurel » (#28,230), « kun » (#28,227). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for late is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "LT", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \lat\. Frequency #28,229 among 2,567 “L” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for late, with forms such as "alte", "laet", and "llate". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "LT", "lit", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is late, spelled L-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Latte.
  2. 2
    Outil de tisserand.
  3. 3
    Règle, sorte de mesure.
  4. 4
    Amende.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how late appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Navée de mairien et de late de caisne [chène] et de toute autre late doit trois deniers de tonliu.
  2. Et par especial ils avoient [les paysans anglais révoltés] en trop grand haine le duc de Lancastre. Ils lui allerent ardoir sa maison, le bel hostel de Savoie, que oncques n'y demeura late ni merrien.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • alte
  • laet
  • llate
  • ltae

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of late - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

alte2laet2llate1ltae2
Edit distance from "late"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "late"?
"late" is spelled L-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \lat\.
What does "late" mean?
As a noun, "late" means: Latte.
What words are commonly confused with "late"?
"late" is commonly confused with "le", "LT", "lit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "late"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "late" is \lat\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "late" come from?
"late" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "late", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Kobe#28,224Issa#28,216holy#28,194hess#28,193

What to do next

You've looked up "late". Here's where to go from here.

  • "late" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "le". View pair
  • 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #28,229 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list