Difference between Labyrinth and Maze

Even though labyrinth is generally similar with a maze in colloquial English, the two are quite different in actual. A lot of people find themselves becoming a victim of this confusion and coming across people using the two words interchangeably only adds to their confusion.

One of the first and foremost things that one needs to understand is that maze and labyrinth do depict a confusing and complex series of pathways.

This, however, does not necessarily mean that the two are identical, which is exactly the case when one talks about a maze and labyrinth.

While differentiating between the two types of pathways, the first thing that one should do is to look at their meanings, which clearly highlight the fact that they are actually different. In general terms, a labyrinth is defined as a single uni-cursal, or in more simplistic terms, a single route that has no branches and leads to the centre. Maze, on the other hand, depicts a pathway that has many branches, dead-ends and choices of path.

Labyrinth and maze differ from each other on account of the level of difficulty that each pathway presents. The former is not designed to be extremely tricky to navigate. Even though the path is pretty long, it is not that complicated as there is only one path. As for the maze, the level of difficulty is really high. The pathway is almost like a puzzle, with various branches. All it takes is one wrong turn for a person to get lost and hit a dead-end in this complex pathway.

In a labyrinth, there is only one entrance and one exit and there is only one path leading from the entrance to the exit. Maze, on the other hand, presents a serious challenge to anyone trying to get through it as it has many entrances and exits.

The significance of a labyrinth and maze also sets them apart from each other. The former holds a spiritual significance, signifying the long and complex path to God, whereas the latter is typically used in science experiments to study intelligence and spatial awareness.