lochvsloteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“loch” and “lote” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,566
“loch” frequency rank
#9,216
“lote” frequency rank
58782
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loch lote
Definition curso d'água na Escócia ou na Irlanda objeto ou reunião de objetos que se leiloam de cada vez

Where the eye mixes loch and lote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. loch (CVCC) and lote (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
loch
4 ch
lote

Why the eye confuses loch with lote

A purely visual mix-up. loch (/lɔk/) and lote (/ˈlɔ.tɨ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58782, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loch is recorded at frequency rank #49,566, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɔk/. lote is at rank #9,216, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɔ.tɨ/.

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 58782, this pair ranks #8,543 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of loch vs lote

Shared letters: lo. Private to "loch": ch. Private to "lote": et.

"loch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lote" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loch ← lcoh · lloch · locch · lochh · lohc · olch
  • lote ← llote · loet · lotte · ltoe · olte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "loch" and "lote" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɔk/ versus /ˈlɔ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "loch" or "lote"?
"lote" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,216 in our Portuguese list, against #49,566 for "loch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,543 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loch" and "lote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laca vs loch". 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 #8,543 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list