locksvsLucasConfusable pair

Quick tell: locks is a noun, Lucas is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“locks” is a noun and “Lucas” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,810
“locks” frequency rank
#6,162
“Lucas” frequency rank
13972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature locks Lucas
Definition plural of lock A male given name from Latin.

Where the eye mixes locks and Lucas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
locks
5 ch
Lucas

Visual trap between locks and Lucas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: locks is /lɒks/ while Lucas is /ˈluːkəs/. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

locks is recorded at frequency rank #7,810, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɒks/. Lucas is at rank #6,162, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈluːkəs/.

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 13972, this pair ranks #472,795 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of locks vs Lucas

Shared letters: cls. Private to "locks": ko. Private to "Lucas": au.

"locks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Lucas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lockslcoks · llocks · loccks · lockks · lockss · locsk · lokcs · olcks
  • Lucaslcuas · llucas · luacs · lucass · luccas · lucsa · ulcas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "locks" and "Lucas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "locks" is a noun and "Lucas" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "locks" vs "Lucas" - which ranks higher?
"Lucas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,162 in our English list, against #7,810 for "locks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "locks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Lucas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #472,795 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "locks" and "Lucas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locks 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 #472,795 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