Which to use
“loch” is a noun and “locke” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,033
- “loch” frequency rank
- #19,583
- “locke” frequency rank
- 55616
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loch | locke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plan d’eau, lac, fjord, estuaire, baie ou crique en Écosse ou en Irlande. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe locker. |
Same sound, different letters: loch vs locke
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. loch runs 4 letters (CVCC) against locke's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: loch vs locke
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: loch and locke carry the same recorded pronunciation, \lɔk\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loch is recorded at frequency rank #36,033, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɔk\. locke is at rank #19,583, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɔk\.
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 55616, this pair ranks #126,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of loch vs locke
Shared letters: clo. Private to "loch": h. Private to "locke": ek.
"loch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "locke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "loch" and "locke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "loch" vs "locke" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"loch" and "locke" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "loch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loch" and "locke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loch". 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 #126,317 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.