Which to use
“loco” and “loo” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,272
- “loco” frequency rank
- #47,432
- “loo” frequency rank
- 71704
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loco | loo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Locomotive. | Cabinets, toilettes, waters, petit coin (pièce destinée à faire ses besoins). |
Where the eye mixes loco and loo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between loco and loo
A purely visual mix-up. loco (\lo.ko\) 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 71704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loco is recorded at frequency rank #24,272, classified as anoun, pronounced \lo.ko\. 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 71704, this pair ranks #46,594 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of loco vs loo
Shared letters: lo. Private to "loco": c. Private to "loo": -.
"loco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "loo" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- loco ← lcoo · lloco · locco · looc · olco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "loco" for "loo" ever safe?
Which is more common, "loco" or "loo"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "loco" 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 #46,594 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loco" 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
Confusion rank #46,594 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.