labosvslapsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,778
“labos” frequency rank
#18,786
“laps” frequency rank
45564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature labos laps
Definition Pluriel de labo. Période de temps.

Where the eye mixes labos and laps

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
labos
4 ch
laps

Visual trap between labos and laps

A purely visual mix-up. labos (\la.bo\) and laps (\laps\) 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 45564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labos is recorded at frequency rank #26,778, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.bo\. laps is at rank #18,786, tagged as anoun, pronounced \laps\.

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 45564, this pair ranks #201,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of labos vs laps

Shared letters: als. Private to "labos": bo. Private to "laps": p.

"labos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "laps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • labosalbos · labbos · laboss · labso · laobs · lbaos · llabos
  • lapsalps · lapps · lapss · lasp · llaps · lpas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "labos" and "laps" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\la.bo\ versus \laps\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "labos" or "laps"?
"laps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,786 in our French list, against #26,778 for "labos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "labos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "labos" and "laps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "labos vs lobo". 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 #201,774 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