labosvsloboWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“labos” and “lobo” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,778
“labos” frequency rank
#49,770
“lobo” frequency rank
76548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature labos lobo
Definition Pluriel de labo. Loup.

Where the eye mixes labos and lobo

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

5 ch
labos
4 ch
lobo

Look-alike desk: labos vs lobo

A purely visual mix-up. labos (\la.bo\) and lobo (\ˈlo.bo\) 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 76548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labos is recorded at frequency rank #26,778, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.bo\. lobo is at rank #49,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlo.bo\.

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 76548, this pair ranks #30,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of labos vs lobo

Shared letters: blo. Private to "labos": as. Private to "lobo": -.

"labos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lobo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • labosalbos · labbos · laboss · labso · laobs · lbaos · llabos
  • lobolboo · llobo · lobbo · loob · olbo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "labos" and "lobo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\la.bo\ versus \ˈlo.bo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "labos" or "lobo"?
"labos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,778 in our French list, against #49,770 for "lobo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "labos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lobo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "labos" and "lobo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs longo". 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 #30,815 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