lunavslutWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: luna is a verb, lut is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“luna” is a verb and “lut” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,078
“luna” frequency rank
#40,358
“lut” frequency rank
54436
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature luna lut
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de luner. Se dit de pâtes ou d'enduits qu'on applique sur les bouchons des vases pour en assurer la fermeture hermétique, autour des cornues, des tubes de verre pour les soustraire à l'action directe du feu, ou qu'on utilise pour obturer des trous, pour faire des joints etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set luna and lut apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
luna
3 ch
lut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: luna is \ly.na\ while lut is \lyt\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

luna is recorded at frequency rank #14,078, classified as averb, pronounced \ly.na\. lut is at rank #40,358, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lyt\.

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 54436, this pair ranks #134,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of luna vs lut

Shared letters: lu. Private to "luna": an. Private to "lut": t.

"luna" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lunalluna · lnua · luan · lunna · ulna

Frequency comparison

luna#14,078
lut#40,358

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "luna" and "lut" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "luna" is a verb and "lut" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "luna" or "lut"?
"luna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,078 in our French list, against #40,358 for "lut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering luna vs lut

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “luna”; for a noun, it's “lut”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “luna” 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