Which to use
“locum” and “locust” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,732
- “locum” frequency rank
- #28,979
- “locust” frequency rank
- 76711
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locum | locust |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ellipsis of locum tenens. | Any of the grasshoppers, often polyphenic and usually swarming, in the family Acrididae that are very destructive to crops and other vegetation, especially migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria). |
Where the eye mixes locum and locust
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. locum runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against locust's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses locum with locust
A purely visual mix-up. locum (/ˈləʊkəm/) and locust (/ˈləʊ.kəst/) 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 76711, 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/. locust is at rank #28,979, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈləʊ.kəst/.
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 76711, this pair ranks #29,334 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of locum vs locust
Shared letters: clou. Private to "locum": m. Private to "locust": st.
"locum" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "locust" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "locum" for "locust" ever safe?
Which is more common, "locum" or "locust"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "locum" and "locust" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "locum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,334 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locum" and "locust" 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 #29,334 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.