Which to use
“laborar” and “laburar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,309
- “laborar” frequency rank
- #22,077
- “laburar” frequency rank
- 61386
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laborar | laburar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de labrar. | Desempeñar una ocupación por una retribución. |
Where the eye mixes laborar and laburar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. laborar and laburar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses laborar with laburar
A purely visual mix-up. laborar ([laβ̞oˈɾaɾ]) and laburar ([laβ̞uˈɾaɾ]) 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 a single letter - o in “laborar” becomes u in “laburar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laborar is recorded at frequency rank #39,309, classified as averb, pronounced [laβ̞oˈɾaɾ]. laburar is at rank #22,077, tagged as averb, pronounced [laβ̞uˈɾaɾ].
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 61386, this pair ranks #55,633 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laborar vs laburar
Shared letters: ablr. Private to "laborar": o. Private to "laburar": u.
"laborar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "laburar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laborar" for "laburar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "laborar" or "laburar"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "laborar" and "laburar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "laborar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laburar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,633 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laborar" and "laburar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "labora vs laborar". 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 #55,633 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.