losevslowerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lose is a noun, lower is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lose and lower apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lose
5 ch
lower

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • losellose · loes · losse · lsoe · olse
  • lowerllower · loewr · lowerr · lowre · lowwer · lwoer · olwer

Frequency comparison

lose#34,601
lower#38,403

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lose" and "lower" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lose" is a noun and "lower" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lose" or "lower"?
"lose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,601 in our French list, against #38,403 for "lower". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lose vs lower

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lose”; for an adjective, it's “lower”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lose” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list