lochvslooWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,033
“loch” frequency rank
#47,432
“loo” frequency rank
83465
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loch loo
Definition Plan d’eau, lac, fjord, estuaire, baie ou crique en Écosse ou en Irlande. Cabinets, toilettes, waters, petit coin (pièce destinée à faire ses besoins).

Where the eye mixes loch and loo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
loch
3 ch
loo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. loch (\lɔk\) and loo (\lu\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83465, 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\. loo is at rank #47,432, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lu\.

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 83465, this pair ranks #14,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of loch vs loo

Shared letters: lo. Private to "loch": ch. Private to "loo": -.

"loch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "loo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lochlcoh · lloch · locch · lochh · lohc · olch

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loch" and "loo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɔk\ versus \lu\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "loch" or "loo"?
"loch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,033 in our French list, against #47,432 for "loo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "loch" and "loo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loch" and "loo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longo vs loo". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list