Which to use
“load” is a noun and “lop” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,587
- “load” frequency rank
- #41,741
- “lop” frequency rank
- 44328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | load | lop |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A burden; a weight to be carried. | To cut off as the top or extreme part of anything, especially to prune a small limb off a shrub or tree, or sometimes to behead someone. |
Where the eye mixes load and lop
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: load is /loʊd/ while lop is /lɒp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
load is recorded at frequency rank #2,587, classified as anoun, pronounced /loʊd/. lop is at rank #41,741, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɒp/.
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 44328, this pair ranks #231,664 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of load vs lop
Shared letters: lo. Private to "load": ad. Private to "lop": p.
"load" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lop" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- load ← laod · lload · loadd · loda · olad