locvsloyTell them apart

Which to use

“loc” and “loy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,508
“loc” frequency rank
#44,027
“loy” frequency rank
71535
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loc loy
Definition Loquet, serrure. Ancienne variante orthographique de loi.

Letter map: loc vs loy

Shared letters muted; letters that set loc and loy apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
loc
3 ch
loy

Pair insight - loc / loy

loc and loy are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - c in “loc” becomes y in “loy”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loc is recorded at frequency rank #27,508, classified as anoun. 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 71535, this pair ranks #47,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of loc vs loy

Shared letters: lo. Private to "loc": c. Private to "loy": y.

"loc" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "loy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loc" and "loy" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - c in “loc” becomes y in “loy”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "loc" vs "loy" - which ranks higher?
"loc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,508 in our French list, against #44,027 for "loy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "loc" and "loy". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loc" 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 #47,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loc" and "loy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #47,212 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list