lose
/luz/verb, noun
lose is spelled L-O-S-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “loose vs lose” about 49,500 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, lose means “To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in lose?
| Letters | 4: L-O-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 120 times per million words; the 873rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is lose?
Lose appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce lose?
- UK /luːz/
- US /luz/
- Australia /lʉːz/
Lose has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-to_lose.ogg, En-us-lose.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lose
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: loos (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with lose?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as lose from its last stressed vowel (/uz/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sole, sloe, selo.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of lose
- loses present, singular, he/she/it
- losing participle, present
- lost participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lose mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cease to have (something) in one's possession or capability.
If you lose that ten-pound note, you'll be sorry.
- 2
To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.
Johnny lost a tooth, but kept it for the tooth fairy.
- 3
To shed (weight).
I’ve lost five pounds this week.
- 4
To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).
She lost all her sons in the war.
- 5
To pay or owe (some wager) due from an unsuccessful bet or gamble.
Frank had lost $500 staying in Vegas.
- 6
To be deprived of (some right or privileged access to something).
Users who engage in disruptive behavior may lose their accounts.
- 7
To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.
I lost my way in the forest.
- 8
To become a defeated competitor in (a game, competition, trial, etc).
We lost the football match.
noun
- 1
Alternative form of loos (“praise; fame; reputation”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lose in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | perdre |
| German | verlieren , abnehmen |
| Portuguese | perder , emagrecer |
| Spanish | perder , bajar (de peso) , fracasar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lose come from?
From Middle English losen, from Old English losian. The modern pronunciation with /uː/ (instead of the /oʊ~əʊ/ that would be expected from Early Modern /ɔː/) is due to conflation with loose.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).