Which to use
“lives” and “Loses” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,669
- “lives” frequency rank
- #49,058
- “Loses” frequency rank
- 79727
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lives | Loses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs life | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Los |
Where the eye mixes lives and Loses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lives and Loses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between lives and Loses
A purely visual mix-up. lives ([laɪvz]) and Loses ([ˈloːzəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lives is recorded at frequency rank #30,669, classified as anoun, pronounced [laɪvz]. Loses is at rank #49,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈloːzəs].
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 79727, this pair ranks #210,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lives vs Loses
Shared letters: els. Private to "lives": iv. Private to "Loses": o.
"lives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Loses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lives" for "Loses" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lives" vs "Loses" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lives" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Loses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lives" and "Loses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs Loses". 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 #210,371 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.