loulouvsloulousWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,321
“loulou” frequency rank
#38,402
“loulous” frequency rank
60723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loulou loulous
Definition Petit chien à longs poils, au museau pointu et à la queue recourbée sur le dos. Pluriel de loulou (chien).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set loulou and loulous apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
loulou
7 ch
loulous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. loulou and loulous are pronounced identically (\lu.lu\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “loulou” sits inside “loulous”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loulou is recorded at frequency rank #22,321, classified as anoun, pronounced \lu.lu\. loulous is at rank #38,402, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lu.lu\.

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 60723, this pair ranks #96,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of loulou vs loulous

Shared letters: lou. Private to "loulou": -. Private to "loulous": s.

"loulou" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "loulous" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • louloulloulou · loluou · loullou · louluo · louolu · luolou · olulou
  • loulouslloulous · loluous · loullous · loulosu · loulouss · louluos · louolus · luolous

Frequency comparison

loulou#22,321
loulous#38,402

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loulou" and "loulous" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\lu.lu\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "loulou" or "loulous"?
"loulou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,321 in our French list, against #38,402 for "loulous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering loulou vs loulous

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 “loulou” 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