louche

\luʃ\

/\luʃ\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“louche” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,249. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,249
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dont les yeux ont une direction différente.

Corpus desk

Index FR-louche · louche · French

louche · rank #11,249 · 8 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,249
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH litige

Nearest frequency peer: litige (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « louche »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « louche » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

louche vs loue
67% similar
louche vs luce
67% similar
louche vs Lucie
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for louche
PropertyValue
Headwordlouche
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\luʃ\
Letters6
Frequency rank#11,249
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « louche »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).louchese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « litige » (#11,248), « licences » (#11,247), « lourdement » (#11,251). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « louche » est au #11,249. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around louche (IPA \luʃ\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #11,249 among 2,567 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for louche, with forms such as "llouche", "locuhe", and "loucche". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "loue", "luce", "Lucie", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is louche, spelled L-O-U-C-H-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dont les yeux ont une direction différente.
  2. 2
    Se dit des yeux mêmes et du regard.
  3. 3
    Trouble. Qui n’est pas clair, net, transparent.
  4. 4
    Suspect, équivoque.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how louche appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Un homme boiteux ou louche
  2. Un gentilhomme s’étant présenté pour entrer au service de la Dauphine, femme de Monseigneur, fils de Louis XIV, fut refusé parce qu’il était louche et que l’on craignait de présenter de pareils objets à la Princesse qui était grosse. Quelque temps après, ce pauvre diable ayant appris qu’on ne refusait pas les borgnes, pourvu qu’ils n’eussent rien de dégoû…

Synonyms

biglebigleux

This word in other languages

shifty(English)scheel(Deutsch)duvidoso(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • llouche
  • locuhe
  • loucche
  • louceh
  • louchhe
  • louhce
  • luoche
  • oluche

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of louche - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

llouche1locuhe2loucche1louceh2louchhe1louhce2luoche2oluche2
Edit distance from "louche"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "louche"?
"louche" is spelled L-O-U-C-H-E. The IPA pronunciation is \luʃ\.
What does "louche" mean?
As an adjective, "louche" means: Dont les yeux ont une direction différente.
What words are commonly confused with "louche"?
"louche" is commonly confused with "loue", "luce", "Lucie". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "louche"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "louche" is \luʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "louche" come from?
"louche" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "louche", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

litige#11,248lavage#11,243Mexico#11,255ouvrez#11,266

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

north8 variantsparité8 variantsenfuir8 variantsseriez8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list