louervsloveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“louer” and “love” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,955
“louer” frequency rank
#2,833
“love” frequency rank
7788
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature louer love
Definition Donner à louage ou à loyer. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de lover.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
louer
4 ch
love

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. louer (\lwe\) and love (\lɔv\) 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 7788, 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\. love is at rank #2,833, tagged as averb, pronounced \lɔv\.

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 7788, this pair ranks #422,118 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of louer vs love

Shared letters: elo. Private to "louer": ru. Private to "love": v.

"louer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "love" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • louerllouer · loeur · louerr · loure · luoer · oluer
  • lovellove · loev · lovve · lvoe · olve

Frequency comparison

louer#4,955
love#2,833

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "louer" and "love" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lwe\ versus \lɔv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "louer" or "love"?
"love" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,833 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 love

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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