Which to use
“loft” and “los” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,786
- “loft” frequency rank
- #1,728
- “los” frequency rank
- 16514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loft | los |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Air, the air; the sky, the heavens. | A medium-sized wildcat, most of them part of the genus Lynx. |
Where the eye mixes loft and los
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between loft and los
A purely visual mix-up. loft (/lɒft/) and los (/lɒs/) 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 16514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loft is recorded at frequency rank #14,786, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɒft/. los is at rank #1,728, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɒs/.
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 16514, this pair ranks #457,280 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of loft vs los
Shared letters: lo. Private to "loft": ft. Private to "los": s.
"loft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "los" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- loft ← lfot · lloft · lofft · loftt · lotf · olft
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "loft" and "los" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "loft" or "los" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "loft" and "los" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "loft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "los" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,280 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loft" and "los" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loft 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 #457,280 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.