Loose or lose?

question from Disha in India:

Would you please tell me the difference between lose and loose? Thank you.

Hello Disha. I’m very glad that you’ve asked this question because people make mistakes with these words ALL THE TIME. And I don’t just mean people who are studying English as a foreign language, but even native speakers who have been using the language all their lives. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that this is one of the most common spelling mistakes there is. So let’s have a look at them – there are a number of important differences.

First let’s take lose [L-O-S-E]. This a verb, so it refers to an action, or something we do. If you lose something it means that you no longer have it and you, usually, don’t know where it has gone. Let’s listen to these examples:

I’ve lost my keys.
Try not to lose your temper.
I’m always losing my way (meaning I have trouble finding places as I take the wrong roads).
He recently lost his wife (meaning his wife recently died).
She feels like she’s losing her mind (meaning she feels like she’s going crazy).

On the other hand, loose [L-O-O-S-E] is an adjective, so it describes something. It is used when we want to say that something is the opposite of 'tight' or is not fixed, although there are a few expressions which are less literal. Have a listen to these:

The knot was a bit loose so the horse escaped.
I prefer to wear my hair loose, rather than tied up.
She always wears very loose clothing.
He’s got a bit of a loose tongue (meaning he likes to talk and may not be very good at keeping secrets).
The thief is on the loose (meaning he/she hasn’t been caught).
Have you got any loose change? (meaning coins that are not worth a lot of money, usually in your pocket).

Note that a very common place to make mistakes is when using the –ing form of the verb 'to lose' – people often put a double 'o' here. Be careful not to do this, because there’s no such word as 'loosing'.

Hopefully this clears up the confusion you were having with this pair of words – as you can see they really are quite different. Not only are the parts of speech and meanings different, but also the pronunciation. ‘LOOS’ and ‘LOOZ’. Try saying these a few times. Thanks for writing in!