locketvslocksTell them apart

Which to use

“locket” and “locks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,714
“locket” frequency rank
#7,810
“locks” frequency rank
41524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature locket locks
Definition A pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item. plural of lock

Where the eye mixes locket and locks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
locket
5 ch
locks

Visual trap between locket and locks

A purely visual mix-up. locket (/ˈlɒkɪt/) and locks (/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 41524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

locket is recorded at frequency rank #33,714, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɒkɪt/. locks is at rank #7,810, 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 41524, this pair ranks #257,573 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of locket vs locks

Shared letters: cklo. Private to "locket": et. Private to "locks": s.

"locket" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "locks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locketlcoket · llocket · loccket · locekt · lockket · lockte · lokcet · olcket
  • lockslcoks · llocks · loccks · lockks · lockss · locsk · lokcs · olcks

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "locket" and "locks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlɒkɪt/ versus /lɒks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "locket" vs "locks" - which ranks higher?
"locks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,810 in our English list, against #33,714 for "locket". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "locket" and "locks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "locket" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "locks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #257,573 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "locket" and "locks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locket vs lockup". 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 #257,573 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list