Which to use
“louse” and “lust” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,167
- “louse” frequency rank
- #10,882
- “lust” frequency rank
- 58049
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | louse | lust |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea. | A feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal. |
Where the eye mixes louse and lust
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: louse vs lust
A purely visual mix-up. louse (/laʊs/) and lust (/ˈlʌst/) 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 58049, 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/. lust is at rank #10,882, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlʌst/.
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 58049, this pair ranks #115,174 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of louse vs lust
Shared letters: lsu. Private to "louse": eo. Private to "lust": t.
"louse" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "louse" and "lust" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "louse" or "lust"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "louse" and "lust" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "louse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,174 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "louse" and "lust" 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 #115,174 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.