Which to use
“locum” and “locus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,732
- “locum” frequency rank
- #23,026
- “locus” frequency rank
- 70758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locum | locus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ellipsis of locum tenens. | A place or locality, especially a centre of activity or the scene of a crime. |
Where the eye mixes locum and locus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. locum and locus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between locum and locus
A purely visual mix-up. locum (/ˈləʊkəm/) and locus (/ˈləʊkəs/) 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 a single letter - m in “locum” becomes s in “locus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locum is recorded at frequency rank #47,732, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈləʊkəm/. locus is at rank #23,026, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈləʊkəs/.
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 70758, this pair ranks #49,264 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of locum vs locus
Shared letters: clou. Private to "locum": m. Private to "locus": s.
"locum" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "locus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "locum" and "locus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "locum" vs "locus" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "locum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,264 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locum" and "locus" 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 #49,264 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.