Which to use
“loi” and “lys” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #300
- “loi” frequency rank
- #14,079
- “lys” frequency rank
- 14379
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loi | lys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Règle, obligations écrites, prescrites ou tacites, auxquelles les personnes se doivent de se conformer. | Genre de liliacées qui porte, sur une haute tige, des fleurs à trois pétales et trois sépales pétaloïdes. |
Where the eye mixes loi and lys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses loi with lys
A purely visual mix-up. loi (\lwa\) and lys (\lis\) 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 14379, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loi is recorded at frequency rank #300, classified as anoun, pronounced \lwa\. lys is at rank #14,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lis\.
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 14379, this pair ranks #396,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of loi vs lys
Shared letters: l. Private to "loi": io. Private to "lys": sy.
"loi" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "lys" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "loi" and "lys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "loi" or "lys" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "loi" and "lys" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "loi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loi" and "lys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lys". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #396,939 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.