Which to use
“laborer” and “labour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,304
- “laborer” frequency rank
- #2,046
- “labour” frequency rank
- 35350
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laborer | labour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who labors. | An effort expended on a particular task; toil, work. |
Where the eye mixes laborer and labour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laborer runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against labour's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laborer vs labour
A purely visual mix-up. laborer (/ˈleɪ.bɚ.ɹɚ/) and labour (/ˈleɪ.bə/) 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 35350, 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/. labour is at rank #2,046, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.bə/.
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 35350, this pair ranks #312,737 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laborer vs labour
Shared letters: ablor. Private to "laborer": e. Private to "labour": u.
"laborer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "labour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laborer" and "labour" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "laborer" or "labour"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "laborer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "labour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #312,737 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laborer" and "labour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laborer vs layover". 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 #312,737 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.