lungvsluxWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“lung” and “lux” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,070
“lung” frequency rank
#18,878
“lux” frequency rank
24948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lung lux
Definition A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood. In the International System of Units, the derived unit of illuminance or illumination; one lumen per square metre. Symbol: lx

Where the eye mixes lung and lux

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

4 ch
lung
3 ch
lux

Visual trap between lung and lux

A purely visual mix-up. lung (/ˈlʌŋ/) and lux (/lʌks/) 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 24948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lung is recorded at frequency rank #6,070, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlʌŋ/. lux is at rank #18,878, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʌks/.

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 24948, this pair ranks #398,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lung vs lux

Shared letters: lu. Private to "lung": gn. Private to "lux": x.

"lung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lux" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lungllung · lnug · lugn · lungg · lunng · ulng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lung" and "lux" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlʌŋ/ versus /lʌks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lung" or "lux"?
"lung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,070 in our English list, against #18,878 for "lux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #398,067 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lung" and "lux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LSC vs lux". 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 #398,067 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