English homophones
los/loss
"loss" (#907 written frequency) beats "los" (#1,728) in this 2-word /lɒs/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /lɒs/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "loss" leads at #907, with "los" trailing at #1,728.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "los" then splits - "los" (3 letters) vs "loss" (4).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across los, loss: los. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
los
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory los · no private letters vs siblings
loss
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory los · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "los" when you mean: A medium-sized wildcat, most of them part of the genus Lynx.
- Write "loss" when you mean: The result of no longer possessing an object, a function, or a characteristic due to external causes or misplacement.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- loss ← lloss · lsos · olss
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (los, loss). Here's where to go from here.
- "loss" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #907 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Lao · Lau. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "los, loss" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.