Which to use
“lag” and “lais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,026
- “lag” frequency rank
- #41,862
- “lais” frequency rank
- 77888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lag | lais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Latence, retard, décalage, lenteur de communication informatique. | 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 lag and lais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lag and lais
A purely visual mix-up. lag (\laɡ\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lag is recorded at frequency rank #36,026, classified as anoun, pronounced \laɡ\. 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 77888, this pair ranks #27,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lag vs lais
Shared letters: al. Private to "lag": g. Private to "lais": is.
"lag" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lais ← alis · laiss · lasi · llais
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lag" and "lais" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "lag" vs "lais" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lag" 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 #27,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lag" 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 #27,176 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.