labovslagTell them apart

Which to use

“labo” and “lag” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,609
“labo” frequency rank
#36,026
“lag” frequency rank
48635
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature labo lag
Definition Laboratoire. Latence, retard, décalage, lenteur de communication informatique.

Where the eye mixes labo and lag

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

4 ch
labo
3 ch
lag

Look-alike desk: labo vs lag

A purely visual mix-up. labo (\la.bo\) and lag (\laɡ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48635, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labo is recorded at frequency rank #12,609, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.bo\. lag is at rank #36,026, tagged as anoun, pronounced \laɡ\.

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 48635, this pair ranks #177,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of labo vs lag

Shared letters: al. Private to "labo": bo. Private to "lag": g.

"labo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lag" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laboalbo · labbo · laob · lbao · llabo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "labo" and "lag" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\la.bo\ versus \laɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "labo" or "lag"?
"labo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,609 in our French list, against #36,026 for "lag". 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 "labo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lag" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "labo" and "lag" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lag vs lep". 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 #177,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list