Which to use
“labour” and “labours” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,046
- “labour” frequency rank
- #42,229
- “labours” frequency rank
- 44275
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | labour | labours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An effort expended on a particular task; toil, work. | plural of labour |
Where the eye mixes labour and labours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between labour and labours
A purely visual mix-up. labour (/ˈleɪ.bə/) and labours (/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 extra letter(s) - “labour” sits inside “labours”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
labour is recorded at frequency rank #2,046, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.bə/. labours is at rank #42,229, 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 44275, this pair ranks #232,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of labour vs labours
Shared letters: abloru. Private to "labour": -. Private to "labours": s.
"labour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "labours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "labour" and "labours" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "labour" or "labours"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "labour" and "labours" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "labour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "labours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "labour" and "labours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "labours vs Latour". 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 #232,147 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.