Which to use
“loan” and “lox” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,118
- “loan” frequency rank
- #44,312
- “lox” frequency rank
- 46430
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loan | lox |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An act or instance of lending, an act or instance of granting something for temporary use. | Salmon that is cured in brine and then smoked at a low temperature so that the flesh remains uncooked. |
Where the eye mixes loan and lox
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between loan and lox
A purely visual mix-up. loan (/ləʊn/) and lox (/lɒks/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loan is recorded at frequency rank #2,118, classified as anoun, pronounced /ləʊn/. lox is at rank #44,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɒks/.
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 46430, this pair ranks #211,799 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of loan vs lox
Shared letters: lo. Private to "loan": an. Private to "lox": x.
"loan" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lox" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- loan ← laon · lloan · loann · lona · olan
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "loan" and "lox" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "loan" vs "lox" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "loan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #211,799 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loan" and "lox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lox vs LSC". 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 #211,799 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.