Which to use
“longs” and “looks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,282
- “longs” frequency rank
- #436
- “looks” frequency rank
- 28718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | longs | looks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Long trousers/pants, as opposed to shorts. | plural of look |
Letter map: longs vs looks
Shared letters muted; letters that set longs and looks apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. longs (CVCCC) and looks (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Corpus notes: longs and looks
longs and looks are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
longs is recorded at frequency rank #28,282, classified as anoun. looks is at rank #436, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʊks/.
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 28718, this pair ranks #368,855 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of longs vs looks
Shared letters: los. Private to "longs": gn. Private to "looks": k.
"longs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "looks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "longs" for "looks" ever safe?
Frequency check: "longs" vs "looks" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "longs" and "looks". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "longs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "looks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,855 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "longs" and "looks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longs vs lopes". 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 #368,855 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.