locusvslordsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#42,439
“locus” frequency rank
#24,273
“lords” frequency rank
66712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature locus lords
Definition Emplacement d’un gène sur un chromosome. Pluriel de lord.

Where the eye mixes locus and lords

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
locus
5 ch
lords

Visual trap between locus and lords

A purely visual mix-up. locus (\lɔ.kys\) and lords (\lɔʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

locus is recorded at frequency rank #42,439, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɔ.kys\. lords is at rank #24,273, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔʁ\.

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 66712, this pair ranks #66,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of locus vs lords

Shared letters: los. Private to "locus": cu. Private to "lords": dr.

"locus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locusllocus · loccus · locsu · locuss · loucs · olcus
  • lordsllords · lodrs · lordds · lordss · lorrds · lorsd · lrods · olrds

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "locus" and "lords" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɔ.kys\ versus \lɔʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "locus" or "lords"?
"lords" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,273 in our French list, against #42,439 for "locus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "locus" and "lords" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "locus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lords" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "locus" and "lords" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locus vs logs". 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 #66,602 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