Which to use
“lobe” and “louse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,635
- “lobe” frequency rank
- #47,167
- “louse” frequency rank
- 66802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lobe | louse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any projection or division, especially one of a somewhat rounded form. | A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea. |
Where the eye mixes lobe and louse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lobe with louse
A purely visual mix-up. lobe (/ləʊb/) and louse (/laʊs/) 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 66802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lobe is recorded at frequency rank #19,635, classified as anoun, pronounced /ləʊb/. louse is at rank #47,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laʊs/.
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 66802, this pair ranks #66,303 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lobe vs louse
Shared letters: elo. Private to "lobe": b. Private to "louse": su.
"lobe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "louse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lobe" for "louse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lobe" or "louse"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lobe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "louse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,303 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lobe" and "louse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs louse". 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 #66,303 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.