loopsvslovesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,096
“loops” frequency rank
#2,220
“loves” frequency rank
14316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loops loves
Definition plural of loop plural of love

Where the eye mixes loops and loves

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
loops
5 ch
loves

Visual trap between loops and loves

A purely visual mix-up. loops (/luːps/) and loves (/lʌvz/) 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 14316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loops is recorded at frequency rank #12,096, classified as anoun, pronounced /luːps/. loves is at rank #2,220, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʌvz/.

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 14316, this pair ranks #470,778 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of loops vs loves

Shared letters: los. Private to "loops": p. Private to "loves": ev.

"loops" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "loves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loopslloops · loopps · loopss · loosp · lopos · lops · olops
  • loveslloves · loevs · lovess · lovse · lovves · lvoes · olves

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loops" and "loves" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/luːps/ versus /lʌvz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "loops" vs "loves" - which ranks higher?
"loves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,220 in our English list, against #12,096 for "loops". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "loops" and "loves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loops" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #470,778 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loops" and "loves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loops 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 #470,778 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