The correct phrase is laid out. Laid out is the past tense of lay, which means "to spread or scatter something typically on a surface." Layed out is a misspelling of laid out.
The past tense of lay is laid, but because for many verbs, you simply have to add an -ed at the end to make it past tense, people mistakenly think that layed is the past tense of lay.
Meanwhile, lain is the past participle of lie, which means to “rest flat on a surface.” Although the spelling of laid and lain may look similar, they are the past tenses of two different words, lay and lie respectively.
The phrase laid out is commonly used, but lain out is not as prominent. The word lain itself is not as commonly used as laid.
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The statistics
In Google Book Ngram Viewer, you can see that laid out is much more widely used than the misspelled layed out and the uncommon lain out in published books.
When comparing laid, layed, and lain, you can see that laid is used much more often while lain is barely used and the misspelled layed is not used at all.
Example sentences
Laid out
The magician laid out the playing cards face up on the table.
In this example, the magician lays out an object, which is this case is playing cards, on a table. To check whether you should be using laid or lain, you can try replacing the verb with the present tense versions lay and lie. The magician can lay out playing cards on the table, but it would not make sense for the magician to lie out playing cards on the table. Lie would only make sense if it was the magician himself that lies on the table. You can lay down an object, but you cannot lie down an object.
The bearded man laid out everything in his pockets on the table as per the request of the security guard.
Here, the bearded man lays out everything in his pockets on the table. It would not make sense for him to lie out everything in his pockets on the table. Lie or lain would only work if the bearded man himself lied down on the table.
The houses were laid out in a calculated design, and when viewed from above, the neighborhood looked beautiful.
This sentence can be tricky because it is in passive voice. The houses were laid out by a designer, or in other words, a designer laid out the houses. The houses are the object of the sentence while the implied designer is the subject. It makes sense for the designer to lay out the houses in a calculated design, but it would not make sense for the designer to lie out the houses in a calculated design.
Layed out: misspelling of laid out
Lain out (uncommon)
Jessica had lain out on the pool float and was sipping juice.
In this sample sentence, the subject of the sentence Jessica lies down on a pool float. The sentence would not make sense with laid out because she, the subject, did not lay down any object on the pool float.
The cat had lain out in front of the fireplace, warming up her body and waiting for her next feeding time.
In this example, the cat lies in front of the fireplace. When using lies or lain, it is typically not necessary to add out afterward. That part of the sentence would be perfectly functional if written: "The cat had lain in front of the fireplace."
Did you see that your son Justin had lain out on grass with his game console instead of doing his homework?
Here, Justin lies out on the grass. He does not lay out any object upon the grass but lies in the grass himself, so therefore lain, the past tense of lies, is used instead of laid, the past tense of lay.
Practice questions
- I had laid/lain out on the hotel bed, contemplating whether to order room service or not.
- I laid/lain out the pieces of the puzzle on the floor.
- Did you see that Irving had laid/lain out on the new coach first before anyone else got to sit on it?
- Kirstin looked at the clothes in her closet and laid/lain out her favorite outfits on her bed.
- Jo laid/lain out the blueprint on meeting room table so we could all have a clear view.
- Why do you think Sophie had defiantly laid/lain out on the road in front of the police car?
- Naomi laid/lain out her bet, and Elaine responded by matching that wager.
- I didn’t know that the books that were laid/lain out were Leonard’s.
- Felix and his sister Felicia laid/lain out their toys on the kitchen counter.
- Sherry had laid/lain out on a hammock at the beach, enjoying the warm sun and cool ocean breeze.
Answers
- lain
- laid
- lain
- laid
- laid
- lain
- laid
- laid
- laid
- lain
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