LuavslustWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Lua is a name, lust is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lua” is a name and “lust” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,247
“Lua” frequency rank
#10,882
“lust” frequency rank
53129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lua lust
Definition A lightweight programming language with dynamic typing. A feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.

Where the eye mixes Lua and lust

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Lua
4 ch
lust

Look-alike desk: Lua vs lust

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lua is /ˈluːə/ while lust is /ˈlʌst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lua is recorded at frequency rank #42,247, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈluːə/. 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 53129, this pair ranks #151,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lua vs lust

Shared letters: lu. Private to "Lua": a. Private to "lust": st.

"Lua" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "lust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lustllust · lusst · lustt · luts · ulst

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Lua" for "lust" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lua" is a name and "lust" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "Lua" or "lust" show up more?
"lust" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,882 in our English list, against #42,247 for "Lua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Lua" 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 #151,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Lua" and "lust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LSC vs Lua". 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 #151,497 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list