English homophones

labors/labours

"labors" (#36,637 written frequency) beats "labours" (#42,229) in this 2-word /ˈleɪbɚz/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage

Frequency splits the cluster

These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈleɪbɚz/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "labors" leads at #36,637, with "labours" trailing at #42,229.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

  • Shared stem "labo" then splits - "labors" (6 letters) vs "labours" (7).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across labors, labours: ablors. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

  • labors

    6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVCC

    Inventory ablors · no private letters vs siblings

  • labours

    7 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVVCC

    Inventory ablorsu · private u

Pick the spelling from the meaning

  • Write "labors" when you mean: plural of labor
  • Write "labours" when you mean: plural of labour

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

  • laborsalbors · labbors · laborrs · laborss · labosr · labros
  • laboursalbours · labbours · laborus · labourrs · labourss · labousr

Each spelling

labors

noun · /ˈleɪbɚz/ · #36,637 frequency

plural of labor

labours

noun · /ˈleɪbɚz/ · #42,229 frequency

plural of labour

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (labors, labours). Here's where to go from here.

  • "labors" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #36,637 in English). Full entry
  • Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
  • Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: loose · luce. Nearby cluster
  • Each spelling in "labors, labours" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list