Which to use
“lock” is a verb and “lots” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,485
- “lock” frequency rank
- #9,192
- “lots” frequency rank
- 29677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lock | lots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de locken. | Pluriel de lot. |
Where the eye mixes lock and lots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lock and lots
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lock is \lɔk\ while lots is \lo\. 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 29677, 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\. lots is at rank #9,192, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lo\.
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 29677, this pair ranks #315,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lock vs lots
Shared letters: lo. Private to "lock": ck. Private to "lots": st.
"lock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lock" and "lots" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lock" or "lots" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lock" and "lots" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lock" and "lots" 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 #315,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.