Which to use
“locust” is a noun and “lost” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,979
- “locust” frequency rank
- #400
- “lost” frequency rank
- 29379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locust | lost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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). | simple past and past participle of lose |
Where the eye mixes locust and lost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses locust with lost
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: locust is /ˈləʊ.kəst/ while lost is /lɒst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locust is recorded at frequency rank #28,979, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈləʊ.kəst/. lost is at rank #400, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɒst/.
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 29379, this pair ranks #363,499 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of locust vs lost
Shared letters: lost. Private to "locust": cu. Private to "lost": -.
"locust" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "lost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "locust" for "lost" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "locust" or "lost" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "locust" and "lost" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "locust" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #363,499 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locust" and "lost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locum vs locust". 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 #363,499 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.