Which to use
“lousy” and “lowly” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,383
- “lousy” frequency rank
- #20,420
- “lowly” frequency rank
- 39803
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lousy | lowly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Remarkably bad; of poor quality. | Not high; not elevated in place; low. |
Where the eye mixes lousy and lowly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lousy (CVVCV) and lowly (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between lousy and lowly
A purely visual mix-up. lousy (/ˈlaʊ.zi/) and lowly (/ˈləʊli/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lousy is recorded at frequency rank #19,383, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈlaʊ.zi/. lowly is at rank #20,420, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈləʊli/.
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 39803, this pair ranks #273,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lousy vs lowly
Shared letters: loy. Private to "lousy": su. Private to "lowly": w.
"lousy" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "lowly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lousy" and "lowly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lousy" or "lowly"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lousy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lowly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #273,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lousy" and "lowly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lally vs lowly". 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 #273,339 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.