Français homophones

loo/lou/loue/louent/Loup/loups

"loo" is a noun; "loue" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #20 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "loo" arrives as a noun, while "loue" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Single-letter fork: "loo" keeps o, "lou" writes u at letter 3.
Shared stem "lo" then splits - "loo" (3 letters) vs "loue" (4).
Shared stem "lo" then splits - "loo" (3 letters) vs "louent" (6).
Shared stem "lo" then splits - "loo" (3 letters) vs "Loup" (4).
Shared stem "lo" then splits - "loo" (3 letters) vs "loups" (5).
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "lou" (3 letters) vs "loue" (4).
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "lou" (3 letters) vs "louent" (6).
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "lou" (3 letters) vs "Loup" (4).
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "lou" (3 letters) vs "loups" (5).
Shared stem "loue" then splits - "loue" (4 letters) vs "louent" (6).
Single-letter fork: "loue" keeps e, "Loup" writes p at letter 4.
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "loue" (4 letters) vs "loups" (5).
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "louent" (6 letters) vs "Loup" (4).
Shared stem "lou" then splits - "louent" (6 letters) vs "loups" (5).
Shared stem "loup" then splits - "Loup" (4 letters) vs "loups" (5).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across loo, lou, loue, louent, Loup, loups: lo. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

loo
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory lo · no private letters vs siblings
lou
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory lou · private u
loue
4 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVV
Inventory elou · private eu
louent
6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVCC
Inventory elnotu · private entu
Loup
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory lopu · private pu
loups
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory lopsu · private psu

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "loo" when you mean: Cabinets, toilettes, waters, petit coin (pièce destinée à faire ses besoins).
Write "lou" when you mean: Loup.
Write "loue" when you mean: Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de louer.
Write "louent" when you mean: Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de louer.
Write "Loup" when you mean: Constellation du ciel austral, bordée par la Balance, le Centaure, le Compas, la Règle et le Scorpion.
Write "loups" when you mean: Pluriel de loup.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

loue ← lloue · loeu · luoe · olue
louent ← llouent · loeunt · louennt · louentt · louetn · lounet
Loup ← lloup · lopu · loupp · luop · olup
loups ← lloups · lopus · loupps · loupss · lousp · luops

Each spelling

loo

noun · /\lu\/ · #47,432 frequency

Cabinets, toilettes, waters, petit coin (pièce destinée à faire ses besoins).

lou

noun · /\lu\/ · #7,204 frequency

Loup.

loue

verb · /\lu\/ · #10,531 frequency

Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de louer.

louent

verb · /\lu\/ · #25,723 frequency

Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de louer.

Loup

name · /\lu\/ · #3,409 frequency

Constellation du ciel austral, bordée par la Balance, le Centaure, le Compas, la Règle et le Scorpion.

loups

noun · /\lu\/ · #6,972 frequency

Pluriel de loup.