loosvslöstWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#29,226
“loos” frequency rank
#3,389
“löst” frequency rank
32615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loos löst
Definition Plural des Substantivs loo 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs lösen

Letter map: loos vs löst

Shared letters muted; letters that set loos and löst apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
loos
4 ch
löst

Grammar separator: loos vs löst

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: loos is anoun and löstaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loos is recorded at frequency rank #29,226, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. löst is at rank #3,389, tagged as averb, pronounced [løːst].

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 32615, this pair ranks #1,703,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of loos vs löst

Shared letters: ls. Private to "loos": o. Private to "löst": .

"loos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "löst" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • looslloos · looss · loso · olos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "loos" for "löst" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loos" is a noun and "löst" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "loos" or "löst" show up more?
"löst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,389 in our German list, against #29,226 for "loos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "loos" and "löst". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "löst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,703,816 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loos" and "löst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loos 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 #1,703,816 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