Looe

/luː/

//luː// name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"looe" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Looe” is uncommon English (frequency #82,497 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,497
frequency rank, English
16,425
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A coastal town and civil parish with a town council in south-east Cornwall, England, situated on the River Looe (OS grid ref SX2553).

Key facts for Looe
PropertyValue
HeadwordLooe
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
IPA/luː/
Letters4
Frequency rank#82,497
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Looe” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). Looe lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Looe is uncommon English at frequency #82,497 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /luː/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A coastal town and civil parish with a town council in south-east Cornwall, England, situated on the River Looe (OS grid ref SX2553).".

Looe has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Cornish logh (“inlet”). Doublet of lay, loch, and lough. The correct English form is Looe, spelled L-O-O-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A coastal town and civil parish with a town council in south-east Cornwall, England, situated on the River Looe (OS grid ref SX2553).

Etymology

From Cornish logh (“inlet”). Doublet of lay, loch, and lough.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Looe"?
"Looe" is spelled L-O-O-E. The IPA pronunciation is /luː/.
What does "Looe" mean?
As a proper noun, "Looe" means: A coastal town and civil parish with a town council in south-east Cornwall, England, situated on the River Looe (OS grid ref SX2553).
How do you pronounce "Looe"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Looe" is /luː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Looe"?
From Cornish logh (“inlet”). Doublet of lay, loch, and lough. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “Looe”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is L-O-O-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /luː/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list