Which to use
“Lose” (one o) is the verb — to lose a game, to lose your keys. “Loose” (two o’s) is the adjective meaning not tight. The extra o makes it looser.
- #879
- “lose” frequency rank
- #3,243
- “loose” frequency rank
- 99
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lose | loose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability. | To let loose, to free from restraints. |
Where the eye mixes lose and loose
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. lose (/luːz/) and loose (/luːs/) 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 99, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lose is recorded at frequency rank #879, classified as averb, pronounced /luːz/. loose is at rank #3,243, tagged as averb, pronounced /luːs/.
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 99, this pair ranks #529,885 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lose vs loose
Shared letters: elos. Private to "lose": -. Private to "loose": -.
"lose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "loose" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV