lâchavslocaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lâcha is a verb, loca is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lâcha” is a verb and “loca” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,554
“lâcha” frequency rank
#43,530
“loca” frequency rank
88084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lâcha loca
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de lâcher. Folle, femme atteinte de folie.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lâcha and loca apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
lâcha
4 ch
loca

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lâcha is \la.ʃa\ while loca is \ˈlo.ka\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lâcha is recorded at frequency rank #44,554, classified as averb, pronounced \la.ʃa\. loca is at rank #43,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈlo.ka\.

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 88084, this pair ranks #7,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lâcha vs loca

Shared letters: acl. Private to "lâcha": . Private to "loca": o.

"lâcha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "loca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • localcoa · lloca · loac · locca · olca

Frequency comparison

lâcha#44,554
loca#43,530

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lâcha" and "loca" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lâcha" is a verb and "loca" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lâcha" or "loca"?
"loca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,530 in our French list, against #44,554 for "lâcha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lâcha vs loca

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lâcha”; for a noun, it's “loca”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lâcha” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list