Lok vs Los, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Lok” and “Los” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,122
“Lok” frequency rank: #469
“Los” frequency rank: 12591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Lok	Los
Definition	Lokomotive	Schicksal, unbeeinflussbares Geschick

Where the eye mixes Lok and Los

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

Lok

3 ch

Los

Visual trap between Lok and Los

A purely visual mix-up. Lok ([lɔk]) and Los ([loːs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - k in “Lok” becomes s in “Los”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lok is recorded at frequency rank #12,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [lɔk]. Los is at rank #469, tagged as anoun, pronounced [loːs].

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 12591, this pair ranks #1,963,279 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Lok vs Los

Shared letters: lo. Private to "Lok": k. Private to "Los": s.

"Lok" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "Los" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Lok" and "Los" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently ([lɔk] versus [loːs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "Lok" vs "Los" - which ranks higher?

"Los" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #469 in our German list, against #12,122 for "Lok". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Lok" and "Los" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "Lok" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Los" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,963,279 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Lok" and "Los" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lok vs Lori". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,963,279 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.