Which to use
“loud” and “lourd” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,532
- “loud” frequency rank
- #2,681
- “lourd” frequency rank
- 46213
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loud | lourd |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fort. | Pesant, dont le poids est élevé. |
Where the eye mixes loud and lourd
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: loud vs lourd
A purely visual mix-up. loud ([laʊd]) and lourd (\luʁ\) 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 46213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loud is recorded at frequency rank #43,532, classified as anadj, pronounced [laʊd]. lourd is at rank #2,681, tagged as anadj, pronounced \luʁ\.
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 46213, this pair ranks #196,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of loud vs lourd
Shared letters: dlou. Private to "loud": -. Private to "lourd": r.
"loud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lourd" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "loud" and "lourd" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "loud" or "lourd"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "loud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lourd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #196,718 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loud" and "lourd" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs loud". 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 #196,718 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.