Which to use
“laps” and “lys” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,786
- “laps” frequency rank
- #14,079
- “lys” frequency rank
- 32865
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laps | lys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Période de temps. | Genre de liliacées qui porte, sur une haute tige, des fleurs à trois pétales et trois sépales pétaloïdes. |
Where the eye mixes laps and lys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses laps with lys
A purely visual mix-up. laps (\laps\) and lys (\lis\) 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 32865, 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\. lys is at rank #14,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lis\.
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 32865, this pair ranks #294,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laps vs lys
Shared letters: ls. Private to "laps": ap. Private to "lys": y.
"laps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lys" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laps ← alps · lapps · lapss · lasp · llaps · lpas
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laps" and "lys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "laps" or "lys"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "laps" and "lys" 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 "lys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laps" and "lys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laps 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 #294,449 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.