Which to use
“loir” and “loos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,502
- “loir” frequency rank
- #46,271
- “loos” frequency rank
- 60773
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loir | loos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit mammifère de la famille des gliridés ou myoxidés, sous-ordre des myomorphes, ordre des rongeurs vrais ; il en existe plusieurs espèces en Europe, en Asie et en Afrique. | Pluriel de loo. |
Where the eye mixes loir and loos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: loir vs loos
A purely visual mix-up. loir (\lwaʁ\) and loos (\luz\) 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 60773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loir is recorded at frequency rank #14,502, classified as anoun, pronounced \lwaʁ\. loos is at rank #46,271, tagged as anoun, pronounced \luz\.
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 60773, this pair ranks #95,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of loir vs loos
Shared letters: lo. Private to "loir": ir. Private to "loos": s.
"loir" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "loos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "loir" for "loos" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "loir" or "loos" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "loir" and "loos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "loir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "loos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loir" and "loos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loos". 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 #95,837 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.