Which to use
“lais” is a noun and “lay” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,862
- “lais” frequency rank
- #27,500
- “lay” frequency rank
- 69362
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lais | lay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Jeune baliveau de l’âge du bois, qu’on laisse quand on coupe le taillis, afin qu’il vienne en haute futaie. | Variante de lé. |
Letter map: lais vs lay
Shared letters muted; letters that set lais and lay apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: lais vs lay
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lais is anoun and layanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lais is recorded at frequency rank #41,862, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ\. lay is at rank #27,500, tagged as anadj.
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 69362, this pair ranks #55,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lais vs lay
Shared letters: al. Private to "lais": is. Private to "lay": y.
"lais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lay" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lais ← alis · laiss · lasi · llais
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lais" and "lay" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lais" or "lay"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lais" and "lay".
- Full dictionary entry for "lais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lais" and "lay" 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 #55,416 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.