lodevslureConfusable pair

Which to use

“lode” and “lure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#41,231
“lode” frequency rank
#11,738
“lure” frequency rank
52969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lode lure
Definition A way or path; a road. Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure.

Where the eye mixes lode and lure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lode and lure follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
lode
4 ch
lure

Look-alike desk: lode vs lure

A purely visual mix-up. lode (/ləʊd/) and lure (/lʊə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lode is recorded at frequency rank #41,231, classified as anoun, pronounced /ləʊd/. lure is at rank #11,738, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʊə/.

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 52969, this pair ranks #152,726 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lode vs lure

Shared letters: el. Private to "lode": do. Private to "lure": ru.

"lode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lode ← ldoe · llode · lodde
  • lure ← llure · lrue · luer · lurre · ulre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lode" and "lure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ləʊd/ versus /lʊə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lode" or "lure"?
"lure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,738 in our English list, against #41,231 for "lode". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,726 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lode" and "lure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lode vs lope". 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 #152,726 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