Which to use
“louse” and “lure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,167
- “louse” frequency rank
- #11,738
- “lure” frequency rank
- 58905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | louse | lure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea. | Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure. |
Where the eye mixes louse and lure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. louse runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against lure's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between louse and lure
A purely visual mix-up. louse (/laʊs/) and lure (/lʊə/) 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 58905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
louse is recorded at frequency rank #47,167, classified as anoun, pronounced /laʊs/. lure is at rank #11,738, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʊə/.
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 58905, this pair ranks #109,513 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of louse vs lure
Shared letters: elu. Private to "louse": os. Private to "lure": r.
"louse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "louse" for "lure" ever safe?
Frequency check: "louse" vs "lure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "louse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,513 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "louse" and "lure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs louse". 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 #109,513 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.