Which to use
“loutre” and “lustre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,056
- “loutre” frequency rank
- #21,071
- “lustre” frequency rank
- 53127
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loutre | lustre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Espèce de mammifère carnivore de la famille des martres, grand à peu près comme un renard, mais plus bas de pattes, et à tête plate et obtuse, semi-aquatiques, qui vit au bord des rivières. | Époque de la cérémonie du cens qui revenait tous les cinq ans et où l’on aspergeait le peuple romain assemblé avec de l’eau lustrale. |
Where the eye mixes loutre and lustre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. loutre (CVVCCV) and lustre (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses loutre with lustre
A purely visual mix-up. loutre (\lutʁ\) and lustre (\lystʁ\) 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 53127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loutre is recorded at frequency rank #32,056, classified as anoun, pronounced \lutʁ\. lustre is at rank #21,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lystʁ\.
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 53127, this pair ranks #142,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of loutre vs lustre
Shared letters: elrtu. Private to "loutre": o. Private to "lustre": s.
"loutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "lustre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "loutre" and "lustre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "loutre" or "lustre"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "loutre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lustre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #142,872 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loutre" and "lustre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loutre vs lure". 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 #142,872 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.