lokivsLoupWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: loki is a verb, Loup is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“loki” is a verb and “Loup” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,600
“loki” frequency rank
#3,409
“Loup” frequency rank
38009
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loki Loup
Definition Placer, poser, situer. Constellation du ciel austral, bordée par la Balance, le Centaure, le Compas, la Règle et le Scorpion.

Where the eye mixes loki and Loup

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
loki
4 ch
Loup

Why the eye confuses loki with Loup

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loki is \ˈlo.ki\ while Loup is \lu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loki is recorded at frequency rank #34,600, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈlo.ki\. Loup is at rank #3,409, tagged as aname, 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 38009, this pair ranks #258,355 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of loki vs Loup

Shared letters: lo. Private to "loki": ik. Private to "Loup": pu.

"loki" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Loup" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lokilkoi · lloki · loik · lokki · olki
  • Louplloup · lopu · loupp · luop · olup

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "loki" for "Loup" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loki" is a verb and "Loup" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "loki" or "Loup" show up more?
"Loup" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,409 in our French list, against #34,600 for "loki". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "loki" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Loup" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,355 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loki" and "Loup" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loki". 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 #258,355 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