locusvslooksWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“locus” and “looks” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,043
“locus” frequency rank
#29,284
“looks” frequency rank
75327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature locus looks
Definition posición fija en un cromosoma, que determina la posición de un gen o de un marcador genético. Forma del plural de look ('miradas')

Where the eye mixes locus and looks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. locus (CVCVC) and looks (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
locus
5 ch
looks

Visual trap between locus and looks

A purely visual mix-up. locus ([ˈlokus]) and looks ([lʊks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

locus is recorded at frequency rank #46,043, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlokus]. looks is at rank #29,284, tagged as anoun, pronounced [lʊks].

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 75327, this pair ranks #19,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of locus vs looks

Shared letters: los. Private to "locus": cu. Private to "looks": k.

"locus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "looks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locus ← lcous · llocus · loccus · locsu · locuss · loucs · olcus
  • looks ← llooks · lokos · loks · lookks · lookss · loosk · oloks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "locus" for "looks" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlokus] versus [lʊks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "locus" or "looks"?
"looks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,284 in our Spanish list, against #46,043 for "locus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "locus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "looks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "locus" and "looks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locus vs lodos". 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 #19,771 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