Which to use
“late” is a verb and “lose” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,276
- “late” frequency rank
- #27,921
- “lose” frequency rank
- 40197
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | late | lose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | terceira pessoa do presente do indicativo do verbo latir | frouxo |
Letter map: late vs lose
Shared letters muted; letters that set late and lose apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. late and lose follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: late vs lose
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: late is averb and loseanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
late is recorded at frequency rank #12,276, classified as averb. lose is at rank #27,921, tagged as anadj.
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 40197, this pair ranks #25,963 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of late vs lose
Shared letters: el. Private to "late": at. Private to "lose": os.
"late" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "late" for "lose" ever safe?
Frequency check: "late" vs "lose" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "late" and "lose".
- Full dictionary entry for "late" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,963 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "late" and "lose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loch vs lose". 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 #25,963 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.