lockvslogoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: lock is a verb, logo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lock” is a verb and “logo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,485
“lock” frequency rank
#4,688
“logo” frequency rank
25173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lock logo
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de locken. Logotype, symbole ou emblème qui représente une marque, une organisation, une entreprise commerciale ou tout autre entité.

Where the eye mixes lock and logo

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

4 ch
lock
4 ch
logo

Why the eye confuses lock with logo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lock is \lɔk\ while logo is \lo.ɡo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lock is recorded at frequency rank #20,485, classified as averb, pronounced \lɔk\. logo is at rank #4,688, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lo.ɡo\.

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 25173, this pair ranks #342,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lock vs logo

Shared letters: lo. Private to "lock": ck. Private to "logo": g.

"lock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "logo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locklcok · llock · locck · lockk · lokc · olck
  • logolgoo · llogo · loggo · loog · olgo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lock" for "logo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lock" is a verb and "logo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "lock" or "logo" show up more?
"logo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,688 in our French list, against #20,485 for "lock". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "logo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #342,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lock" and "logo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs lock". 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 #342,372 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