Would you eat a kookie or a cookie? Does a volcano have a crater or a krater? Do milk products contain lactase or lactose? Is a young sheep a lam or a lamb? Which one comes from a volcano: larva or lava?
kookie, cookie
Kookie is a slang word that means eccentric, strange, or foolish.
The kookie old man did such crazy things that people tended to stay as far away from him as they could.
A cookie is a small cake made from stiff, sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan
Her impatient children ate most of the cookie dough before she could bake it.
kraft, craft
Kraft is a strong, usually brown paper processed from wood pulp, used chiefly for bags and as wrapping paper.
Kraft (always spelled with a capital K) is an American grocery manufacturing and processing conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
The packages were wrapped in kraft paper.
A craft is an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially manual skill. Craft is also a skill or ability used for bad purposes, cunning, deceit, or guile.
The spy was skilled in the craft of deceit.
krater, crater
A krater, according to Greek and Roman antiquity, is a mixing bowl characterized by a wide mouth and body with two handles projecting vertically from the juncture of the neck and body that is used to mix wine and water. To make life even more confusing, it can also be spelled crater.
In the middle of the table, a beautiful krater from ancient Greece was on display.
A crater is a cup-shaped depression or cavity on the surface of the earth or other heavenly body marking the orifice of a volcano.
Flowers filled the once barren crater.
lacks, lax
Lacks are deficiencies.
She lacks economic knowledge.
Lax means not strict or severe, careless or negligent.
Because the parents were lax in discipline, the children were out of control.
lactase, lactose
Lactase is a biochemistry term. It is an enzyme.
Today, she learned about lactase in her biochemistry class.
Lactose is a sugar obtained from milk.
Her grandfather was lactose intolerant.
lade, laid
Lade means to put (something) on or in, as a burden, load, or cargo, to load. It also means to take on a load.
The port is a place for ships to lade.
Laid means to put or place in a horizontal position or position of rest. It is the simple past tense and past participle of lay.
The sleeping baby was carefully laid in the crib.
lain, lane
Lain is past participle of lie.
She had lain her head on his shoulder.
photo by Lisa Binion
A lane is a narrow road.
The dark treelined lane wasn’t safe to walk at night.
lam, lamb
Lam means to escape or flee.
The bank robber planned to lam the scene at the first opportunity.
A lamb is a young sheep.
One black lamb stood in the midst of the flock of white sheep.
lama, llama
A lama is a priest or monk in Lamaism, the Mahayana form of Buddhism of Tibet and Mongolia.
The Tibetan lama meditated to try and cure his sickness.
A llama is a domesticated South American cud-chewing mammal that is used as a beast of burden and is valued for its hair, flesh, and hide.
Some people have a llama for a pet.
laps, lapse
Laps are the front parts of human bodies from the waist to the knees when in a sitting position.
There were so many laps to choose from that the cat just didn’t know which one to curl up on.
A lapse is an interval or passage of time, an elapsed period.
The lapse between classes couldn’t come soon enough.
larva, lava
In entomology, a larva is the immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.
In her biology class, she learned about the larva of different insects.
Lava is the molten, fluid rock that issues from a volcano or volcanic vent.
The lava flowed toward their home so fast that they didn’t have time to grab anything as they fled.
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