loy vs lui, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“loy” is a noun and “lui” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,027
“loy” frequency rank: #68
“lui” frequency rank: 44095
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	loy	lui
Definition	Ancienne variante orthographique de loi.	Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier épicène du complément d’objet indirect.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set loy and lui apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

loy

3 ch

lui

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: loy is \lwa\ while lui is \lɥi\. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loy is recorded at frequency rank #44,027, classified as anoun, pronounced \lwa\. lui is at rank #68, tagged as apron, pronounced \lɥi\.

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 44095, this pair ranks #213,088 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of loy vs lui

Shared letters: l. Private to "loy": oy. Private to "lui": iu.

"loy" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

loy#44,027

lui#68

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loy" and "lui" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "loy" is a noun and "lui" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "loy" or "lui"?

"lui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #68 in our French list, against #44,027 for "loy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering loy vs lui

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “loy”; for a pronoun, it's “lui”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “loy” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable