locovslottoTell them apart

Quick tell: loco is a adjective, lotto is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“loco” is an adjective and “lotto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#972
“loco” frequency rank
#49,769
“lotto” frequency rank
50741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loco lotto
Definition Que no está en su sano juicio, que se comporta de forma irracional. Tipo de lotería muy popular en Suecia, que consiste en atinar a 7 números de 35.

Where the eye mixes loco and lotto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. loco runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lotto's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
loco
5 ch
lotto

Look-alike desk: loco vs lotto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loco is [ˈloko] while lotto is [ˈlɔtːɔ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loco is recorded at frequency rank #972, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈloko]. lotto is at rank #49,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlɔtːɔ].

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 50741, this pair ranks #101,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of loco vs lotto

Shared letters: lo. Private to "loco": c. Private to "lotto": t.

"loco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lotto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loco ← lcoo · lloco · locco · looc · olco
  • lotto ← llotto · lotot · ltoto · oltto

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "loco" and "lotto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loco" is an adjective and "lotto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "loco" or "lotto" show up more?
"loco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #972 in our Spanish list, against #49,769 for "lotto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "loco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lotto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loco" and "lotto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo vs lotto". 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 #101,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list