labelvslobeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“label” and “lobe” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,436
“label” frequency rank
#19,635
“lobe” frequency rank
23071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature label lobe
Definition A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached. Any projection or division, especially one of a somewhat rounded form.

Where the eye mixes label and lobe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
label
4 ch
lobe

Visual trap between label and lobe

A purely visual mix-up. label (/ˈleɪ.bəl/) and lobe (/ləʊb/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

label is recorded at frequency rank #3,436, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.bəl/. lobe is at rank #19,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ləʊb/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 23071, this pair ranks #411,937 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of label vs lobe

Shared letters: bel. Private to "label": a. Private to "lobe": o.

"label" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lobe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • labelalbel · labbel · labell · lable · laebl · lbael · llabel
  • lobelboe · llobe · lobbe · olbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "label" and "lobe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈleɪ.bəl/ versus /ləʊb/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "label" or "lobe" show up more?
"label" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,436 in our English list, against #19,635 for "lobe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "label" and "lobe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "label" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lobe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #411,937 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "label" and "lobe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobe vs lope". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #411,937 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list