loopvsloyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: loop is a verb, loy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“loop” is a verb and “loy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,401
“loop” frequency rank
#44,027
“loy” frequency rank
82428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loop loy
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de loopen. Ancienne variante orthographique de loi.

Where the eye mixes loop and loy

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

4 ch
loop
3 ch
loy

Why the eye confuses loop with loy

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loop is \luːp\ while loy is \lwa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loop is recorded at frequency rank #38,401, classified as averb, pronounced \luːp\. loy is at rank #44,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lwa\.

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 82428, this pair ranks #16,773 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of loop vs loy

Shared letters: lo. Private to "loop": p. Private to "loy": y.

"loop" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "loy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • looplloop · loopp · lop · lopo · olop

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "loop" and "loy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loop" is a verb and "loy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "loop" or "loy"?
"loop" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,401 in our French list, against #44,027 for "loy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "loop" and "loy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loop" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,773 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loop" and "loy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loy". 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 #16,773 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