los

[los]

/[los]/ article

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

The verdict

“los” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #8) as an article. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#8
frequency rank, Spanish
2,069
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo.

Corpus desk

Index ES-los · los · Spanish

los · rank #8 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #8
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,069
  • PHOTO-FINISH no

Nearest frequency peer: no (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “los”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “los” sits against the nearest ranked Spanish headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

los vs Lu
0% similar
los vs lx
33% similar
los vs luz
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for los
PropertyValue
Headwordlos
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechArticle
IPA[los]
Letters3
Frequency rank#8
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “los” sits in Spanish 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). los lands here:

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

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

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for los is neighbouring look-alikes ("Lu", "lx", …), not just typos; it is anarticle pronounced [los]. Frequency #8 among 2,069 “L” headwords. Gloss: "Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo.".

Zero misspellings are on record for los in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Lu", "lx", "luz", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct Spanish form is los, spelled L-O-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how los appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. En la oración "recibí los mensajes", los denota "mensajes" ya definidos de cuya existencia sabía el hablante con anterioridad.
  2. En la oración "los seres humanos son así", los denota que "seres humanos" se entiende en su sentido genérico.

This word in other languages

the(English)les(Français)os(Português)

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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "los"?
"los" is spelled L-O-S. The IPA pronunciation is [los].
What does "los" mean?
As an article, "los" means: Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo.
What words are commonly confused with "los"?
"los" is commonly confused with "Lu", "lx", "luz". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "los"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "los" is [los]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "los" come from?
"los" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar Spanish words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "los", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Spanish headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

por#12que#3del#14las#15
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