losevslotoTell them apart

Quick tell: lose is a verb, loto is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lose” is a verb and “loto” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,699
“lose” frequency rank
#28,434
“loto” frequency rank
66133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lose loto
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de losar. Planta acuática de la familia de las ninfeáceas, de hojas muy grandes, coriáceas, con pecíolo largo y delgado; flores terminales, solitarias, de gran diámetro, color blanco azulado y olorosas, y fruto globoso parecido al de la adormidera, con semillas que se comen después de tostarlas y molerlas. Abunda en las orillas del Nilo, y las hojas, la flor y el fruto figuran en los monumentos de los antiguos egipcios.

Where the eye mixes lose and loto

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

4 ch
lose
4 ch
loto

Visual trap between lose and loto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lose is [ˈlose] while loto is [ˈlot̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lose is recorded at frequency rank #37,699, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈlose]. loto is at rank #28,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlot̪o].

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 66133, this pair ranks #40,672 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lose vs loto

Shared letters: lo. Private to "lose": es. Private to "loto": t.

"lose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "loto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • losellose · loce · loes · losse · lsoe · olse
  • lotolloto · loot · ltoo · olto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lose" and "loto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lose" is a verb and "loto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lose" vs "loto" - which ranks higher?
"loto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,434 in our Spanish list, against #37,699 for "lose". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "lose" and "loto" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lose" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,672 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lose" and "loto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lose vs lotte". 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 #40,672 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