loquevsloueConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,272
“loque” frequency rank
#10,531
“loue” frequency rank
56803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loque loue
Definition Étoffe réduite en lambeaux par suite de l’usure. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de louer.

Where the eye mixes loque and loue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
loque
4 ch
loue

Visual trap between loque and loue

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loque is \lɔk\ while loue is \lu\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loque is recorded at frequency rank #46,272, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɔk\. loue is at rank #10,531, tagged as averb, 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 56803, this pair ranks #118,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of loque vs loue

Shared letters: elou. Private to "loque": q. Private to "loue": -.

"loque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "loue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loquelloque · loqeu · loqque · louqe · lqoue · olque
  • louelloue · loeu · luoe · olue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "loque" for "loue" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loque" is a noun and "loue" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "loque" or "loue" show up more?
"loue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,531 in our French list, against #46,272 for "loque". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "loque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "loue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,810 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loque" and "loue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Laroque vs loque". 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 #118,810 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