Which to use
“last” and “law” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,733
- “last” frequency rank
- #12,186
- “law” frequency rank
- 22919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | last | law |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poids de deux tonneaux de mer ou 2000 kilogrammes. | Loi, règle. |
Where the eye mixes last and law
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between last and law
A purely visual mix-up. last (\last\) and law (\lɔ\) 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 22919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
last is recorded at frequency rank #10,733, classified as anoun, pronounced \last\. law is at rank #12,186, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔ\.
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 22919, this pair ranks #355,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of last vs law
Shared letters: al. Private to "last": st. Private to "law": w.
"last" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "law" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- last ← alst · lasst · lastt · lats · llast · lsat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "last" for "law" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "last" or "law" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "last" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "law" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #355,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "last" and "law" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "law 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 #355,375 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.