lawvslooWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: law is a noun, loo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“law” is a noun and “loo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,081
“law” frequency rank
#43,690
“loo” frequency rank
56771
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature law loo
Definition Ley₁₋₉. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de loar.

Where the eye mixes law and loo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
law
3 ch
loo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: law is /lɔː/ while loo is [ˈloo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

law is recorded at frequency rank #13,081, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɔː/. loo is at rank #43,690, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈloo].

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 56771, this pair ranks #73,194 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of law vs loo

Shared letters: l. Private to "law": aw. Private to "loo": o.

"law" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "loo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "law" and "loo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "law" is a noun and "loo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "law" or "loo"?
"law" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,081 in our Spanish list, against #43,690 for "loo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "law" and "loo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "law" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,194 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "law" and "loo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loo vs lotto". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list