It may surprise you to know there is no technical difference between lakes and ponds, according to the National Park Service(Opens in a new window). However, a general rule of a thumb is if a body of water is large and deep it's a lake and if it's short and shallow it's a pond.

Geographically, a body of water is classified as a lake based on its size, depth, and the absence of a significant current. While there is no universal "cutoff" size, lakes are generally defined as large, inland bodies of lentic (still) water surrounded by land. One key scientific distinction between a lake and a pond is light penetration: in a pond, sunlight can usually reach the entire bottom surface, allowing plants to grow across the floor; in a lake, there are "aphotic" zones where the water is too deep for sunlight to reach the bottom. Lakes are typically formed in basins created by geological processes such as glacial erosion (which formed the Great Lakes), tectonic shifts, or even volcanic activity (caldera lakes). To remain a lake, the basin must be continuously replenished by inflows from rivers, groundwater, or precipitation at a rate that offsets evaporation and outflow, maintaining a permanent and significant volume of water.