Which to use
“laborer” and “labourer” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,304
- “laborer” frequency rank
- #31,235
- “labourer” frequency rank
- 64539
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laborer | labourer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who labors. | British standard spelling of laborer. |
Where the eye mixes laborer and labourer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. laborer runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against labourer's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: laborer vs labourer
A purely visual mix-up. laborer (/ˈleɪ.bɚ.ɹɚ/) and labourer (/ˈleɪ.bə.ɹə/) 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 64539, 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/. labourer is at rank #31,235, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.bə.ɹə/.
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 64539, this pair ranks #77,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laborer vs labourer
Shared letters: abelor. Private to "laborer": -. Private to "labourer": u.
"laborer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "labourer" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laborer" and "labourer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "laborer" or "labourer"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "laborer" and "labourer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laborer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "labourer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laborer" and "labourer" 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 #77,220 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.