lucesvsluckTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,893
“luces” frequency rank
#38,798
“luck” frequency rank
41691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature luces luck
Definition Forma del plural de luz. Suerte

Where the eye mixes luces and luck

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

5 ch
luces
4 ch
luck

Why the eye confuses luces with luck

A purely visual mix-up. luces ([ˈluses]) and luck (/lʌk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

luces is recorded at frequency rank #2,893, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈluses]. luck is at rank #38,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʌk/.

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 41691, this pair ranks #152,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of luces vs luck

Shared letters: clu. Private to "luces": es. Private to "luck": k.

"luces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "luck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • luceslcues · lluces · lucces · lucess · lucse · luecs · luses · ulces
  • lucklcuk · lluck · lucck · luckk · lukc · ulck

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "luces" for "luck" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈluses] versus /lʌk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "luces" or "luck"?
"luces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,893 in our Spanish list, against #38,798 for "luck". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "luces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "luces" and "luck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lac vs luck". 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 #152,263 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