Which to use
“lose” is a noun and “lower” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,601
- “lose” frequency rank
- #38,403
- “lower” frequency rank
- 73004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lose | lower |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de lauze. | Comparatif de low. |
Letter map: lose vs lower
Shared letters muted; letters that set lose and lower apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. lose runs 4 letters (CVCV) against lower's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - lose and lower
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lose is anoun and loweranadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lose is recorded at frequency rank #34,601, classified as anoun. lower is at rank #38,403, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈloʊ.ɚ\.
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 73004, this pair ranks #42,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lose vs lower
Shared letters: elo. Private to "lose": s. Private to "lower": rw.
"lose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lower" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lose" and "lower" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lose" or "lower"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "lose" and "lower".
- Full dictionary entry for "lose" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lower" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lose" and "lower" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "looser vs lower". 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 #42,008 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.