labeurvslaideurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“labeur” and “laideur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,182
“labeur” frequency rank
#29,019
“laideur” frequency rank
49201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature labeur laideur
Definition Travail pénible exigeant un effort d’une certaine durée. État de ce qui est laid.

Where the eye mixes labeur and laideur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. labeur runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against laideur's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
labeur
7 ch
laideur

Visual trap between labeur and laideur

A purely visual mix-up. labeur (\la.bœʁ\) and laideur (\lɛ.dœʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labeur is recorded at frequency rank #20,182, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.bœʁ\. laideur is at rank #29,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛ.dœʁ\.

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 49201, this pair ranks #172,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of labeur vs laideur

Shared letters: aelru. Private to "labeur": b. Private to "laideur": di.

"labeur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "laideur" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • labeur ← albeur · labbeur · laberu · labeurr · labuer · laebur · lbaeur · llabeur
  • laideur ← alideur · ladieur · laiddeur · laideru · laideurr · laiduer · laiedur · liadeur

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "labeur" and "laideur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\la.bœʁ\ versus \lɛ.dœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "labeur" or "laideur" show up more?
"labeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,182 in our French list, against #29,019 for "laideur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "labeur" and "laideur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "labeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "laideur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "labeur" and "laideur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laideur vs Länder". 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 #172,604 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list