Which to use
“laborer” and “labors” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,304
- “laborer” frequency rank
- #36,637
- “labors” frequency rank
- 69941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laborer | labors |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who labors. | plural of labor |
Where the eye mixes laborer and labors
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laborer runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against labors's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laborer with labors
A purely visual mix-up. laborer (/ˈleɪ.bɚ.ɹɚ/) and labors (/ˈleɪbɚz/) 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 69941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laborer is recorded at frequency rank #33,304, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.bɚ.ɹɚ/. labors is at rank #36,637, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪbɚz/.
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 69941, this pair ranks #52,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laborer vs labors
Shared letters: ablor. Private to "laborer": e. Private to "labors": s.
"laborer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "labors" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laborer" and "labors" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "laborer" or "labors" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "laborer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "labors" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laborer" and "labors" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "labors vs labours". 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 #52,536 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.