lavsluzWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: la is a article, luz is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“la” is an article and “luz” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2
“la” frequency rank
#21,684
“luz” frequency rank
21686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature la luz
Definition Féminin singulier de le. Détermine un groupe nominal féminin singulier. Lumière.

Where the eye mixes la and luz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
la
3 ch
luz

Look-alike desk: la vs luz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: la is \la\ while luz is \ˈluθ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

la is recorded at frequency rank #2, classified as anarticle, pronounced \la\. luz is at rank #21,684, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈluθ\.

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 21686, this pair ranks #361,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of la vs luz

Shared letters: l. Private to "la": a. Private to "luz": uz.

"la" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "luz" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "la" and "luz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "la" is an article and "luz" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "la" or "luz" show up more?
"la" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2 in our French list, against #21,684 for "luz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "la" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "luz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #361,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "la" and "luz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs luz". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #361,944 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list