Which to use
“less” and “lost” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,688
- “less” frequency rank
- #15,430
- “lost” frequency rank
- 46118
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | less | lost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Moins, en quantité. | Ignorant. |
Where the eye mixes less and lost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between less and lost
A purely visual mix-up. less (\ˈlɛs\) and lost (\lɔst\) 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 46118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
less is recorded at frequency rank #30,688, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈlɛs\. lost is at rank #15,430, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɔst\.
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 46118, this pair ranks #197,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of less vs lost
Shared letters: ls. Private to "less": e. Private to "lost": ot.
"less" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "less" and "lost" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "less" or "lost"?
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 "less" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #197,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "less" and "lost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs less". 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 #197,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.