Lose is a verb that means to misplace something, be deprived of it, or fail to win: Don't lose your keys; we don't want to lose the match. Loose is almost always an adjective meaning not tight, not firmly fixed, or free: a loose tooth, loose change, the dog got loose. The quickest test is sound — lose rhymes with news and buzzes on a soft "z", while loose rhymes with goose and hisses on a sharp "s".
These two words are separated by a single letter, but they belong to different word classes and sound different.
The confusion is really a spelling trap. English almost always pairs a single "o" with a long "oh" sound — nose, rose, hose, close and dose all rhyme with one another — so lose looks as if it should rhyme with nose. It doesn't, and writers "fix" the mismatch by adding a second "o", accidentally turning lose into loose. Simply knowing that the spelling of lose is irregular is half the battle.
Say the sentence aloud. If the word buzzes like a bee — a voiced z — you want lose. If it hisses like a snake — a sharp s — you want loose. Compare I always lose my umbrella (buzz) with this knot is loose (hiss). Your mouth already knows the difference even when the spelling tries to trick you.
Here is the exception that trips up even careful writers: loose genuinely is a verb as well as an adjective. To loose something is to release or unleash it — the archer loosed an arrow, they loosed the hounds. It is a real, if slightly literary, word, and loosen is the everyday choice for "make less tight". What loose never means is "to misplace" or "to fail to win". So loose the dogs is fine, but don't loose the game is wrong. If you mean release, loose or loosen may fit; if you mean anything else, you want lose.
These are two different words, not a typo of each other. A loser (one "o") is someone who loses. Looser (two "o"s) is the comparative of loose, meaning less tight: These jeans are looser than my old pair. A sore loser is never a sore "looser".
Both spellings exist, but they point in opposite directions. Losing (from lose) is what you need almost every time: a losing streak, losing weight, losing your grip. Loosing (from the verb loose) means releasing, and is rare. When in doubt, drop an "o": it's losing, not loosing.
Two tricks — take your pick:
Good news: unlike colour/color or -ise/-ize, there is no transatlantic split here. Lose and loose are spelled, pronounced and used the same way in American and British English. The one small difference is an idiom: when you have nothing to do, Britons are at a loose end, while Americans are at loose ends. Either way it is loose, never lose.
If the word is doing something — misplacing, being beaten, being deprived — it is the verb lose, with one "o" and a buzzing "z". If it is describing something that isn't tight or tied down, it is the adjective loose, with two "o"s and a hissing "s". When in doubt, say it out loud and ask yourself: goose or news?
Sound is the fastest test. Lose rhymes with news and buzzes on a soft 'z'; loose rhymes with goose and hisses on a sharp 's'. For spelling, remember that when you lose something you have less, so lose has lost an 'o' and keeps just one. Loose keeps both, like a wobbly loose tooth.
It is lose weight. Lose is the verb meaning to shed or be deprived of something, so you lose pounds, lose weight and lose inches. Loose is an adjective meaning not tight. Losing weight might leave your clothes looser, but the action itself is always to lose weight, never 'loose weight'.
Yes, but not as a substitute for lose. To loose means to release or unleash: an archer looses an arrow, a handler looses the hounds. It is correct though somewhat literary, and loosen is more common for 'make less tight'. Loose never means to misplace or to fail to win, which is always lose.
They are two different words. A loser (one 'o') is someone who loses, or a person you look down on. Looser (two 'o's) is the comparative of loose, meaning less tight, as in looser jeans or looser rules. So it is a sore loser and a bad loser, never a 'looser'.
It is simply an irregular spelling inherited from Old English. Most single-'o' words such as nose, rose and close use a long 'oh' sound, so lose looks as if it should rhyme with them, but it actually rhymes with choose. That mismatch between spelling and sound is exactly why people wrongly add a second 'o'.
