Which to use
“lotus” and “lupus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,830
- “lotus” frequency rank
- #28,636
- “lupus” frequency rank
- 42466
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lotus | lupus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom usuel donné à plusieurs plantes appartenant à divers genres : Nelumbo avec le lotus sacré et le lotus jaune ; Nymphaea avec le lotus bleu et lotus tigré. | Lupus érythémateux (maladie auto-immune). |
Where the eye mixes lotus and lupus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lotus and lupus
A purely visual mix-up. lotus (\lo.tys\) and lupus (\ly.pys\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lotus is recorded at frequency rank #13,830, classified as anoun, pronounced \lo.tys\. lupus is at rank #28,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ly.pys\.
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 42466, this pair ranks #225,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lotus vs lupus
Shared letters: lsu. Private to "lotus": ot. Private to "lupus": p.
"lotus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lupus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lotus" for "lupus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lotus" vs "lupus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lotus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lupus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lotus" and "lupus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lips vs lupus". 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 #225,400 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.