Lecoq vs loco, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Lecoq” is a name and “loco” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,267
“Lecoq” frequency rank: #24,272
“loco” frequency rank: 70539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Lecoq	loco
Definition	Nom de famille.	Locomotive.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

Lecoq

4 ch

loco

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lecoq is \lə.kɔk\ while loco is \lo.ko\. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lecoq is recorded at frequency rank #46,267, classified as aname, pronounced \lə.kɔk\. loco is at rank #24,272, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lo.ko\.

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 70539, this pair ranks #50,940 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Lecoq vs loco

Shared letters: clo. Private to "Lecoq": eq. Private to "loco": -.

"Lecoq" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "loco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

Lecoq ← elcoq · lceoq · leccoq · lecoqq · lecqo · leocq · llecoq
loco ← lcoo · lloco · locco · looc · olco

Frequency comparison

Lecoq#46,267

loco#24,272

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lecoq" and "loco" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lecoq" is a name and "loco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Lecoq" or "loco"?

"loco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,272 in our French list, against #46,267 for "Lecoq". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Lecoq vs loco

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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