Which to use
“loos” and “lys” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,271
- “loos” frequency rank
- #14,079
- “lys” frequency rank
- 60350
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loos | lys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de loo. | Genre de liliacées qui porte, sur une haute tige, des fleurs à trois pétales et trois sépales pétaloïdes. |
Where the eye mixes loos and lys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses loos with lys
A purely visual mix-up. loos (\luz\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loos is recorded at frequency rank #46,271, classified as anoun, pronounced \luz\. 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 60350, this pair ranks #98,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of loos vs lys
Shared letters: ls. Private to "loos": o. Private to "lys": y.
"loos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lys" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- loos ← lloos · looss · loso · olos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "loos" for "lys" ever safe?
Frequency check: "loos" vs "lys" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "loos" 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 #98,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loos" and "lys" 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 #98,049 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.