lace vs leave, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#41,860
“lace” frequency rank: #25,029
“leave” frequency rank: 66889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lace	leave
Definition	Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de lacer.	Partir, s’en aller.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lace and leave apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

lace

5 ch

leave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lace (\las\) and leave (\ˈliv\) 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 66889, 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\. leave is at rank #25,029, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈliv\.

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 66889, this pair ranks #65,853 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lace vs leave

Shared letters: ael. Private to "lace": c. Private to "leave": v.

"lace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

lace ← lacce · lcae · llace
leave ← elave · laeve · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave

Frequency comparison

lace#41,860

leave#25,029

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lace" and "leave" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\las\ versus \ˈliv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "lace" or "leave"?

"leave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,029 in our French list, against #41,860 for "lace". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lace vs leave

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lace” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable