louervslouisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: louer is a verb, louis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“louer” is a verb and “louis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,955
“louer” frequency rank
#726
“louis” frequency rank
5681
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature louer louis
Definition Donner à louage ou à loyer. Ancienne monnaie d’or française.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
louer
5 ch
louis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: louer is \lwe\ while louis is \lwi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

louer is recorded at frequency rank #4,955, classified as averb, pronounced \lwe\. louis is at rank #726, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lwi\.

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 5681, this pair ranks #428,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of louer vs louis

Shared letters: lou. Private to "louer": er. Private to "louis": is.

"louer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "louis" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • louerllouer · loeur · louerr · loure · luoer · oluer
  • louisllouis · loius · louiss · lousi · luois · oluis

Frequency comparison

louer#4,955
louis#726

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "louer" and "louis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "louer" is a verb and "louis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "louer" or "louis"?
"louis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #726 in our French list, against #4,955 for "louer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering louer vs louis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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