lotionvslotisWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

“lotion” is a noun and “lotis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,415
“lotion” frequency rank
#45,715
“lotis” frequency rank
83130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lotion lotis
Definition Action de mouiller, d’imbiber d’un liquide quelque partie du corps pour l’adoucir, l’amollir, la rafraîchir, etc. Masculin pluriel de loti.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lotion and lotis apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
lotion
5 ch
lotis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lotion is \lo.sjɔ̃\ while lotis is \lɔ.ti\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lotion is recorded at frequency rank #37,415, classified as anoun, pronounced \lo.sjɔ̃\. lotis is at rank #45,715, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɔ.ti\.

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 83130, this pair ranks #15,403 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lotion vs lotis

Shared letters: ilot. Private to "lotion": n. Private to "lotis": s.

"lotion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "lotis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lotionllotion · loiton · lotino · lotionn · lotoin · lottion · ltoion · oltion
  • lotisllotis · loits · lotiss · lotsi · lottis · ltois · oltis

Frequency comparison

lotion#37,415
lotis#45,715

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lotion" and "lotis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lotion" is a noun and "lotis" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lotion" or "lotis"?
"lotion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,415 in our French list, against #45,715 for "lotis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lotion vs lotis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lotion”; for an adjective, it's “lotis”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lotion” 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