Which to use
“laps” and “lips” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,786
- “laps” frequency rank
- #46,867
- “lips” frequency rank
- 65653
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laps | lips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Période de temps. | Pluriel de lip. |
Where the eye mixes laps and lips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: laps vs lips
A purely visual mix-up. laps (\laps\) and lips (\ˈlɪps\) 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 a single letter - a in “laps” becomes i in “lips”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laps is recorded at frequency rank #18,786, classified as anoun, pronounced \laps\. lips is at rank #46,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɪps\.
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 65653, this pair ranks #71,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laps vs lips
Shared letters: lps. Private to "laps": a. Private to "lips": i.
"laps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "laps" and "lips" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "laps" vs "lips" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laps" and "lips" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laps" and "lips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lips". 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 #71,370 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.