Which to use
“loco” is an adverb and “lop” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,141
- “loco” frequency rank
- #41,741
- “lop” frequency rank
- 63882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loco | lop |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A direction in written or printed music to be returning to the proper pitch after having played an octave higher or lower. | To cut off as the top or extreme part of anything, especially to prune a small limb off a shrub or tree, or sometimes to behead someone. |
Where the eye mixes loco and lop
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loco is /ˈləʊ.kəʊ/ while lop is /lɒp/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loco is recorded at frequency rank #22,141, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈləʊ.kəʊ/. lop is at rank #41,741, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɒp/.
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 63882, this pair ranks #80,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of loco vs lop
Shared letters: lo. Private to "loco": c. Private to "lop": p.
"loco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lop" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- loco ← lcoo · lloco · locco · looc · olco