Which to use
“locus” and “lou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,439
- “locus” frequency rank
- #7,204
- “lou” frequency rank
- 49643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locus | lou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Emplacement d’un gène sur un chromosome. | Loup. |
Where the eye mixes locus and lou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between locus and lou
A purely visual mix-up. locus (\lɔ.kys\) and lou (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49643, 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\. lou is at rank #7,204, 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 49643, this pair ranks #168,975 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of locus vs lou
Shared letters: lou. Private to "locus": cs. Private to "lou": -.
"locus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lou" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- locus ← llocus · loccus · locsu · locuss · loucs · olcus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "locus" and "lou" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "locus" or "lou"?
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 "locus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #168,975 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locus" and "lou" 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 #168,975 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.