Lose vs Loose

Lose is a verb that means to misplace something, or to fail to win. Loose is usually an adjective and means not tight, not contained, or not firmly fixed. They look almost identical on the page, but they sound different and they do completely different jobs in a sentence.

Last reviewed on 2026-04-27.

Quick Comparison

Aspect	Lose	Loose
Part of speech	Verb	Adjective (most often); also a verb meaning "to release"
Pronunciation	"looz" — rhymes with news, ends in a /z/ sound	"loos" — rhymes with moose, ends in a /s/ sound
Spelling	One o	Two os
Core meaning	To misplace, to fail to win, to be deprived of	Not tight, not fixed, not contained
Past tense	Lost	Loosened (when used as a verb)
Typical sentence shape	Subject + lose + object	(article) + loose + noun

Key Differences

1. Different parts of speech

Lose is a verb. Like every verb, it describes an action: I lose my keys, the team loses every match, you'll lose patience eventually. It always pairs with a doer (the subject) and usually with something that gets lost (the object).

Loose is almost always an adjective — a description of a thing. A loose tooth, loose change, loose clothing. It tells you something about a noun, not about an action. Loose can also be a verb meaning "to release" or "to set free" (he loosed the dog from its lead), but in modern English that use is uncommon, and release or let go is usually clearer.

2. Different sounds

The pronunciation rule is simple and unusually reliable: the one with one o ends in a buzz, and the one with two os ends in a hiss.

Lose ends in /z/. It rhymes with booze, news, shoes.
Loose ends in /s/. It rhymes with moose, juice, truce.

Saying the sentence out loud is therefore a fast test. If the word ends in a /z/ sound, you want lose with one o.

3. Different sentence shapes

Lose behaves like other verbs. It conjugates: I lose, she loses, they lost, we have lost. Sentences using lose usually contain a subject and an object.

Loose as an adjective sits next to a noun and modifies it: a loose handle, loose threads, the chain is loose. It doesn't conjugate, because adjectives don't.

If the word in your sentence has to do something — has to act — it's almost always lose. If it's describing the state of a thing, it's almost always loose.

4. Their families of related words

Lose sits inside a small family of action words about losing: loss (the noun), loser (the person), losing (the participle), lost (the past tense).

Loose belongs with other "not tight" words: looser (more loose), loosely (the adverb), loosen (the verb meaning to make less tight). The only verb form people regularly use is loosen; that's because plain loose as a verb sounds a bit archaic.

5. Where the confusion comes from

Two reasons people slip:

The visual. Lose looks like it should rhyme with nose, rose, hose. It doesn't — it rhymes with chose. English spelling is unhelpful here.
Autocorrect. Phone keyboards regularly turn lose into loose because loose is a more common autocompletion. The fix is muscle memory: when you see loose on screen and you meant the verb, replace one of the os.

Memory Trick

Pick whichever of these sticks for you — most people only need one.

"Loose has too many os — they're loose." The extra o in loose isn't held tightly to the word; it's loose, just like the meaning.
"You can't l-o-o-s-e a contest, you lose it." If you're talking about losing — not winning — the word has only one o.
The sound test. Read the sentence aloud. If the word ends with a /z/ buzz, you need lose; if it ends with a /s/ hiss, you need loose.

Worked Examples

Lose (verb) — correct uses

If we don't leave now, we'll lose our table.
She hates to lose, even at games she cares nothing about.
Don't lose heart — there's still a round to play.
The company is on track to lose ground to its main competitor.
You'll lose the signal once the train enters the tunnel.

Loose (adjective) — correct uses

That handle is loose; it'll come off if you keep turning it.
She wore a loose jumper and walking boots.
The dog got loose from its lead in the park.
He had a loose grasp of the details, but the broad story was right.
There's loose change rattling around the bottom of the bag.

Common mix-ups (and the fix)

Wrong: "I don't want to loose my job."
Right: "I don't want to lose my job." "Don't want to" is followed by a verb; the verb is lose.
Wrong: "The screws are lose."
Right: "The screws are loose." The screws aren't doing anything; the word describes their state.
Wrong: "You'll loose interest by the second chapter."
Right: "You'll lose interest by the second chapter." "Will" is followed by a verb; the verb here is lose.

Quick Self-Check

Pick the right word in each blank, then read aloud to confirm:

I always _____ my keys when I'm in a hurry. (verb → lose)
The lid is a bit _____, so don't shake the jar. (describes the lid → loose)
If they tie the next match, they'll still _____ on points. (verb → lose)
He had a _____ tooth that he wouldn't stop poking at. (describes the tooth → loose)