Which to use
“look” is a verb and “looks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #151
- “look” frequency rank
- #436
- “looks” frequency rank
- 587
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | look | looks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To try to see, to pay attention to with one’s eyes. | plural of look |
Where the eye mixes look and looks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: look is /lʊk/ while looks is /lʊks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “look” sits inside “looks”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
look is recorded at frequency rank #151, classified as averb, pronounced /lʊk/. 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 587, this pair ranks #529,156 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of look vs looks
Shared letters: klo. Private to "look": -. Private to "looks": s.
"look" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "looks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC