Which to use
“lop” and “lope” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,741
- “lop” frequency rank
- #49,466
- “lope” frequency rank
- 91207
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lop | lope |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cut off as the top or extreme part of anything, especially to prune a small limb off a shrub or tree, or sometimes to behead someone. | To travel an easy pace with long strides. |
Where the eye mixes lop and lope
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lop runs 3 letters (CVC) against lope's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lop with lope
A purely visual mix-up. lop (/lɒp/) and lope (/ləʊp/) 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 extra letter(s) - “lop” sits inside “lope”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lop is recorded at frequency rank #41,741, classified as averb, pronounced /lɒp/. lope is at rank #49,466, tagged as averb, pronounced /ləʊp/.
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 91207, this pair ranks #3,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lop vs lope
Shared letters: lop. Private to "lop": -. Private to "lope": e.
"lop" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lope" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- lope ← llope · loep · loppe · lpoe · olpe
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lop" and "lope" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lop" or "lope"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lop" and "lope" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lop" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lope" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lop" and "lope" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs Lora". 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 #3,474 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.