Which to use
“lake” is a noun and “lam” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,242
- “lake” frequency rank
- #25,713
- “lam” frequency rank
- 36955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lake | lam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lac. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe lemel/lemen/lemiñ. |
Where the eye mixes lake and lam
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lake vs lam
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lake is \ˈleɪk\ while lam is \ˈlãmː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lake is recorded at frequency rank #11,242, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈleɪk\. 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 36955, this pair ranks #265,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lake vs lam
Shared letters: al. Private to "lake": ek. Private to "lam": m.
"lake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lam" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lake ← alke · laek · lakke · lkae · llake
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lake" and "lam" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lake" or "lam" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lake" 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 #265,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lake" and "lam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lam vs lep". 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 #265,919 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.