Which to use
“lace” and “lam” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,860
- “lace” frequency rank
- #25,713
- “lam” frequency rank
- 67573
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lace | lam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de lacer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe lemel/lemen/lemiñ. |
Where the eye mixes lace and lam
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lace vs lam
A purely visual mix-up. lace (\las\) and lam (\ˈlãmː\) 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 67573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lace is recorded at frequency rank #41,860, classified as averb, pronounced \las\. lam is at rank #25,713, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈlãmː\.
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 67573, this pair ranks #62,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lace vs lam
Shared letters: al. Private to "lace": ce. Private to "lam": m.
"lace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lam" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lace ← lacce · lcae · llace
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lace" for "lam" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "lace" or "lam" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lace" and "lam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lace vs lago". 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 #62,831 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.