Liter or litre?
liter is a noun meaning “Alternative form of litre, one cubic decimeter”; litre is a noun meaning “The metric unit of fluid measure, equal to one cubic decimetre. Symbol: L, l…”. They sound the same (/ˈliː.tə/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) litre is about as common as liter.
What is the difference between liter and litre?
| liter | litre | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | USAlternative form of litre, one cubic decimeter | The metric unit of fluid measure, equal to one cubic decimetre. Symbol: L, l, or ℓ informalA measure of volume equivalent to a litre Lithraea caustica, a Chilean tree or bush |
| Example | none recorded | Holonyms: kilolitre < megalitre < gigalitre |
| Forms | liters | litres |
| Pronunciation | /ˈliː.tə/ /ˈli.tɚ/ [ˈli.ɾɚ] | /ˈliːtə/ /ˈli.tɚ/ [ˈli.ɾɚ] |
| In writing | 2.9 times per million words | 3.2 times per million words |
Sources: liter and litre in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of liter and litre
liter
- 1
USAlternative form of litre, one cubic decimeter
litre
- 1
The metric unit of fluid measure, equal to one cubic decimetre. Symbol: L, l, or ℓ
Holonyms: kilolitre < megalitre < gigalitre
- 2
Lithraea caustica, a Chilean tree or bush
- 3
informalA measure of volume equivalent to a litre
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, liter or litre?
liter appears 2.9 times per million words; litre 3.2 times per million words.
liter 2.9 times per million wordslitre 3.2 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search liter vs litre?
“liter vs litre” is searched about 590 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“litre vs liter”, “liter or litre”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.