Which to use
“lad” and “loy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,389
- “lad” frequency rank
- #44,027
- “loy” frequency rank
- 82416
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lad | loy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Valet d’écurie chargé de garder et de soigner les chevaux de course. | Ancienne variante orthographique de loi. |
Where the eye mixes lad and loy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. lad (CVC) and loy (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between lad and loy
A purely visual mix-up. lad (\lad\) and loy (\lwa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lad is recorded at frequency rank #38,389, classified as anoun, pronounced \lad\. loy is at rank #44,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lwa\.
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 82416, this pair ranks #16,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lad vs loy
Shared letters: l. Private to "lad": ad. Private to "loy": oy.
"lad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "loy" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lad" and "loy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lad" or "loy" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "loy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lad" and "loy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loy". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #16,792 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.