lb

symbol

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“lb” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #22,921) as a symbol. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#22,921
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Symbole de la livre (pound), unité de mesure de masse anglo-saxonne. Cette livre est ordinairement dans le système avoir-du-poids ; il y a aussi une livre apothicaire (apothecary pound ou troy poun...

Corpus desk

Index FR-lb · lb · French

lb · rank #22,921 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #22,921
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH Laroche

Nearest frequency peer: Laroche (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “lb”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “lb” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lb vs le
50% similar
lb vs Lu
0% similar
lb vs Li
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lb
PropertyValue
Headwordlb
LanguageFrench
Part of speechSymbol
Letters2
Frequency rank#22,921
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “lb” sits in French frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).lb lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lb is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "Lu", …), not just typos; it is asymbol. Frequency #22,921 among 2,567 “L” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

lb doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "Lu", "Li", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is lb, spelled L-B.

Definition

  1. 1
    Symbole de la livre (pound), unité de mesure de masse anglo-saxonne. Cette livre est ordinairement dans le système avoir-du-poids ; il y a aussi une livre apothicaire (apothecary pound ou troy pound) — les symboles respectifs sont lb av et lb t ou lb Tr. La livre française, elle, avait pour symbole lp.
  2. 2
    Code ISO 639-1 (alpha-2) du luxembourgeois.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how lb appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 1 lb av = 0,453 592 37 kg (exactement)
  2. 1 lb t = 0,373 241 7216 kg (exactement)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lb"?
"lb" is spelled L-B.
What does "lb" mean?
As a symbol, "lb" means: Symbole de la livre (pound), unité de mesure de masse anglo-saxonne. Cette livre est ordinairement dans le système avoir-du-poids ; il y a aussi une livre apothicaire (apothecary pound ou troy poun...
What words are commonly confused with "lb"?
"lb" is commonly confused with "le", "Lu", "Li". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "lb" come from?
"lb" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

You've looked up "lb". Here's where to go from here.

  • "lb" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "le". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #22,921 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "L" letter cohort. L–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list