Which to use
“los” is an article and “lost” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8
- “los” frequency rank
- #18,302
- “lost” frequency rank
- 18310
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | los | lost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo. | Cola de animal. |
Where the eye mixes los and lost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between los and lost
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: los is [los] while lost is /ˈlɔst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “los” sits inside “lost”, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
los is recorded at frequency rank #8, classified as anarticle, pronounced [los]. lost is at rank #18,302, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔst/.
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 18310, this pair ranks #268,438 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of los vs lost
Shared letters: los. Private to "los": -. Private to "lost": t.
"los" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lost ← llost · losst · lostt · lots · lsot · olst
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "los" and "lost" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "los" vs "lost" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "los" and "lost" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "los" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #268,438 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "los" and "lost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lost 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 #268,438 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.