Which to use
“loisir” and “looser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,121
- “loisir” frequency rank
- #49,194
- “looser” frequency rank
- 57315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loisir | looser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Temps libre dont on peut disposer en dehors de ses occupations habituelles (emploi, gestion de la maison, éducation des enfants, etc.) et des contraintes qu’elles imposent (transports par exemple). | Variante de loser. |
Where the eye mixes loisir and looser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. loisir and looser follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses loisir with looser
A purely visual mix-up. loisir (\lwa.ziʁ\) and looser (\lu.zœʁ\) 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 57315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loisir is recorded at frequency rank #8,121, classified as anoun, pronounced \lwa.ziʁ\. looser is at rank #49,194, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lu.zœʁ\.
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 57315, this pair ranks #115,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of loisir vs looser
Shared letters: lors. Private to "loisir": i. Private to "looser": e.
"loisir" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "looser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "loisir" and "looser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "loisir" or "looser" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "loisir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "looser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loisir" and "looser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loos vs looser". 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 #115,786 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.