Which to use
“Locke” is a name and “locum” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,355
- “Locke” frequency rank
- #47,732
- “locum” frequency rank
- 62087
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Locke | locum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An English surname — famously held by | Ellipsis of locum tenens. |
Where the eye mixes Locke and locum
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Locke vs locum
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Locke is /lɒk/ while locum is /ˈləʊkəm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Locke is recorded at frequency rank #14,355, classified as aname, pronounced /lɒk/. locum is at rank #47,732, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈləʊkəm/.
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 62087, this pair ranks #90,460 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Locke vs locum
Shared letters: clo. Private to "Locke": ek. Private to "locum": mu.
"Locke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "locum" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Locke" and "locum" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Locke" vs "locum" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Locke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #90,460 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Locke" and "locum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lockup vs locum". 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 #90,460 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.