losvslosaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: los is a article, losa is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“los” is an article and “losa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8
“los” frequency rank
#23,124
“losa” frequency rank
23132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature los losa
Definition Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo. Piedra plana y de poco grosor, usada para pavimentar, revestir una construcción, y otros usos.

Where the eye mixes los and losa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
los
4 ch
losa

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: los is [los] while losa is [ˈlosa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “los” sits inside “losa”, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

los is recorded at frequency rank #8, classified as anarticle, pronounced [los]. losa is at rank #23,124, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlosa].

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 23132, this pair ranks #247,235 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of los vs losa

Shared letters: los. Private to "los": -. Private to "losa": a.

"los" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "losa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • losalossa · lsoa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "los" and "losa" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "los" is an article and "losa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "los" or "losa"?
"los" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8 in our Spanish list, against #23,124 for "losa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list