losvslowWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: los is a article, low is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#8
“los” frequency rank
#13,737
“low” frequency rank
13745
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature los low
Definition Artículo determinado masculino plural. El singular es lo. Bajo.

Where the eye mixes los and low

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
los
3 ch
low

Look-alike desk: los vs low

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: los is [los] while low is /ləʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “los” becomes w in “low”, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

los is recorded at frequency rank #8, classified as anarticle, pronounced [los]. low is at rank #13,737, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ləʊ/.

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 13745, this pair ranks #286,703 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of los vs low

Shared letters: lo. Private to "los": s. Private to "low": w.

"los" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "low" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "los" and "low" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "los" is an article and "low" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "los" or "low"?
"los" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8 in our Spanish list, against #13,737 for "low". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "los" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "low" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #286,703 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "los" and "low" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lac vs low". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #286,703 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