Which to use
“lui” is a pronoun and “luke” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #68
- “lui” frequency rank
- #8,732
- “luke” frequency rank
- 8800
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lui | luke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier épicène du complément d’objet indirect. | Sans considération pour, sans tenir compte de. |
Where the eye mixes lui and luke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lui and luke
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lui is \lɥi\ while luke is \ˈlukɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lui is recorded at frequency rank #68, classified as apron, pronounced \lɥi\. luke is at rank #8,732, tagged as aprep, pronounced \ˈlukɛ\.
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 8800, this pair ranks #418,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lui vs luke
Shared letters: lu. Private to "lui": i. Private to "luke": ek.
"lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "luke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- luke ← lkue · lluke · luek · lukke · ulke
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lui" and "luke" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "lui" or "luke" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "luke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lui" and "luke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liker vs luke". 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 #418,806 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.