Which to use
“labo” and “lais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,609
- “labo” frequency rank
- #41,862
- “lais” frequency rank
- 54471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | labo | lais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Laboratoire. | Jeune baliveau de l’âge du bois, qu’on laisse quand on coupe le taillis, afin qu’il vienne en haute futaie. |
Where the eye mixes labo and lais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. labo (CVCV) and lais (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses labo with lais
A purely visual mix-up. labo (\la.bo\) and lais (\lɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54471, 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\. lais is at rank #41,862, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛ\.
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 54471, this pair ranks #133,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of labo vs lais
Shared letters: al. Private to "labo": bo. Private to "lais": is.
"labo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "labo" and "lais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "labo" or "lais"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "labo" and "lais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "labo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #133,817 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "labo" and "lais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs lais". 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 #133,817 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.