lire

/\liʁ\/ verb

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#491

in French word usage

Misspellings

4

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

lire is aFrenchverb. It means: Interpréter des informations écrites sous forme de mots ou de dessins sur un support. Pronounced \liʁ\. It ranks #491 in French word frequency. Often confused with LR and lit.

Key facts for lire
PropertyValue
Headwordlire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\liʁ\
Letters4
Frequency rank#491
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of lire in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for lire is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \liʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #491 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for lire, with forms such as "ilre", "lirre", and "llire". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "LR", "lit", "lis", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is lire, spelled L-I-R-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Interpréter des informations écrites sous forme de mots ou de dessins sur un support.
  2. 2
    Suivre des yeux ce qui est écrit ou imprimé, avec la connaissance des sons que les lettres figurent ; soit en ne proférant pas les mots, soit en les proférant à haute voix.
  3. 3
    Prendre connaissance et comprendre un texte écrit.
  4. 4
    Comprendre ce qui est écrit ou imprimé dans une langue étrangère.
  5. 5
    Parcourir des yeux une musique notée, avec la connaissance des sons que les notes figurent et des diverses modifications que ces sons doivent recevoir.
  6. 6
    Prononcer à haute voix, avec l’intonation voulue, ce qui est écrit ou imprimé.
  7. 7
    S’instruire, s’amuser, s’informer, etc. par la lecture.
  8. 8
    Se dit encore en parlant de quelque livre qu’un professeur explique ou fait expliquer à ses auditeurs et qu’il prend pour sujet des leçons qu’il leur donne.
  9. 9
    Comprendre par l'observation un sens caché qui est au-delà des apparences.
  10. 10
    Lancer un fichier vidéo ou audio pour le regarder ou l’écouter.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ilre,lirre,llire,lrie

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for lire

Misspelling Variants of "lire"

ilre4lirre5llire5lrie4
Misspelling Variants of "lire"

Frequency rank: #491 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lire"?
"lire" is spelled L-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \liʁ\.
What does "lire" mean?
As a verb, "lire" means: Interpréter des informations écrites sous forme de mots ou de dessins sur un support.
What words are commonly confused with "lire"?
"lire" is commonly confused with "LR", "lit", "lis". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lire" is \liʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lire" come from?
"lire" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter L in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.