Which to use
“lose” and “lost” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #879
- “lose” frequency rank
- #400
- “lost” frequency rank
- 1279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lose | lost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability. | simple past and past participle of lose |
Where the eye mixes lose and lost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. lose (/luːz/) and lost (/lɒst/) 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 a single letter - e in “lose” becomes t in “lost”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lose is recorded at frequency rank #879, classified as averb, pronounced /luːz/. lost is at rank #400, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɒst/.
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 1279, this pair ranks #527,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lose vs lost
Shared letters: los. Private to "lose": e. Private to "lost": t.
"lose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC