lui vs lupin, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#68
“lui” frequency rank: #34,171
“lupin” frequency rank: 34239
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lui	lupin
Definition	Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier épicène du complément d’objet indirect.	Fabacée à feuilles disposées en éventail. → voir Lupinus

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

lui

5 ch

lupin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lui is \lɥi\ while lupin is \ly.pɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lui is recorded at frequency rank #68, classified as apron, pronounced \lɥi\. lupin is at rank #34,171, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ly.pɛ̃\.

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 34239, this pair ranks #285,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lui vs lupin

Shared letters: ilu. Private to "lui": -. Private to "lupin": np.

"lui" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "lupin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

lupin ← llupin · lpuin · luipn · lupinn · lupni · luppin · ulpin

Frequency comparison

lui#68

lupin#34,171

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"lui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #68 in our French list, against #34,171 for "lupin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lui vs lupin

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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