lutvsluttesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“lut” and “luttes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,358
“lut” frequency rank
#7,989
“luttes” frequency rank
48347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lut luttes
Definition 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. Pluriel de lutte.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
lut
6 ch
luttes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. lut and luttes are pronounced identically (\lyt\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 3 extra letter(s) - “lut” sits inside “luttes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lut is recorded at frequency rank #40,358, classified as anoun, pronounced \lyt\. luttes is at rank #7,989, 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 48347, this pair ranks #179,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lut vs luttes

Shared letters: ltu. Private to "lut": -. Private to "luttes": es.

"lut" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "luttes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lutteslluttes · ltutes · lutes · lutets · luttess · luttse · ulttes

Frequency comparison

lut#40,358
luttes#7,989

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lut" and "luttes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\lyt\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "lut" or "luttes"?
"luttes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,989 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 lut vs luttes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lut” 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