Lose vs. Loose

If you keep one of these straight, then the other will be okay.

Lose (verb)

• the “z” sound. It “lost” its extra “o,” just like “lost” only has one “o”
• verb, the opposite of “win” or the opposite of “find” (with four letters like “find”)
• the word “verb” has four letters; the word “lose” has four letters

Loose (adjective)

• “loose as a goose” has the soft “s”
• an adjective meaning “not contained”
• the word “adjective” is longer than four letters; “loose” has more than four letters
• as a verb, it means “to release,” also the soft “s”

Whichever system works for you! :>)

Loosen (verb)

“Loosen” is the verb that makes something loose.

Examples:

• The loose goose flew over the loose moose.
  • (“loose” rhymes with both “goose” and “moose”)
• Whose key did you lose?
  • (“lose” rhymes with “whose”and “lose”)
• They loosened the knot to let the moose loose.
  • (“loosen” makes it not tight)
• We hoped the Broncos would not lose the game. (They didn’t!)
  • (“lose” = not win)
• The loose mouse ran around the house.
  • (“loose,” “mouse,” “house” all have the soft “s” sound)
• After Thanksgiving dinner, he had to loosen his belt.
  • (“loosen” = let it out a notch or two, making it not so tight)

Credit: Photo by Michael Dziedzic, Photo by Rebecca Campbell on Unsplash