Which to use
“lotion” and “lutin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,415
- “lotion” frequency rank
- #29,029
- “lutin” frequency rank
- 66444
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lotion | lutin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de mouiller, d’imbiber d’un liquide quelque partie du corps pour l’adoucir, l’amollir, la rafraîchir, etc. | Petit démon ou esprit follet qui vient la nuit tourmenter les vivants. |
Where the eye mixes lotion and lutin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. lotion runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against lutin's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: lotion vs lutin
A purely visual mix-up. lotion (\lo.sjɔ̃\) and lutin (\ly.tɛ̃\) 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 66444, 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\. lutin is at rank #29,029, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ly.tɛ̃\.
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 66444, this pair ranks #67,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lotion vs lutin
Shared letters: ilnt. Private to "lotion": o. Private to "lutin": u.
"lotion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "lutin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lotion" and "lutin" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "lotion" or "lutin" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lotion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lutin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,811 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lotion" and "lutin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lotion vs Louison". 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 #67,811 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.