Which to use
“lis” and “loi” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,147
- “lis” frequency rank
- #300
- “loi” frequency rank
- 3447
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lis | loi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genre de liliacées qui porte, sur une haute tige, des fleurs à trois pétales et trois sépales pétaloïdes. | Règle, obligations écrites, prescrites ou tacites, auxquelles les personnes se doivent de se conformer. |
Where the eye mixes lis and loi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lis and loi
A purely visual mix-up. lis (\lis\) and loi (\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 3447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lis is recorded at frequency rank #3,147, classified as anoun, pronounced \lis\. loi is at rank #300, 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 3447, this pair ranks #434,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lis vs loi
Shared letters: il. Private to "lis": s. Private to "loi": o.
"lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "loi" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lis" and "loi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lis" or "loi" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lis" and "loi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "loi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,002 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lis" and "loi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #434,002 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.