lockvslocoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lock is a verb, loco is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lock” is a verb and “loco” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,345
“lock” frequency rank
#41,324
“loco” frequency rank
62669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lock loco
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs locken Ort, Platz, Stelle; auch in Fachwort

Letter map: lock vs loco

Shared letters muted; letters that set lock and loco apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
lock
4 ch
loco

Grammar separator: lock vs loco

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lock is averb and locoanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - k in “lock” becomes o in “loco”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lock is recorded at frequency rank #21,345, classified as averb, pronounced [lɔk]. loco is at rank #41,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 62669, this pair ranks #704,408 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lock vs loco

Shared letters: clo. Private to "lock": k. Private to "loco": -.

"lock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "loco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locklcok · llock · locck · lockk · lokc · olck
  • locolcoo · lloco · locco · looc · olco

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lock" and "loco" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lock" is a verb and "loco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "lock" or "loco" show up more?
"lock" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,345 in our German list, against #41,324 for "loco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "lock" vs "loco" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #704,408 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lock" and "loco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loco vs puzzles". 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 #704,408 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list