Many people write “loose” when they mean “lose” instead.

Problem:
The verb “lose” does not look like it would be pronounced with the oo sound, so many people mistakenly choose the “oo” word (“loose”) instead.

Explanation:
As I’ve written in an earlier post, it’s true that “loose” can be used as a verb as well as an adjective.

However, when used as a verb, “loose” does not mean “stops having”; this definition belongs to the verb “lose” instead.

If you look up the origins of these two words, you see that:

• “lose” — pronounced [looz] — is derived from Old English losian;
• “loose” — pronounced [loos] — is derived from Middle English los, loos.

Knowing the origins of these two words does not help me to remember the correct spelling. In fact, I don’t know how I keep them straight (no mnemonic comes to mind), but I do.

Solution:
Simply memorize that the verb “lose” is spelled with one ‘o’.