Which to use
“labeur” and “laveur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,182
- “labeur” frequency rank
- #31,116
- “laveur” frequency rank
- 51298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | labeur | laveur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Travail pénible exigeant un effort d’une certaine durée. | Celui qui lave. |
Where the eye mixes labeur and laveur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. labeur and laveur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses labeur with laveur
A purely visual mix-up. labeur (\la.bœʁ\) and laveur (\la.vœʁ\) 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 - b in “labeur” becomes v in “laveur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51298, 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\. laveur is at rank #31,116, tagged as anoun, pronounced \la.vœʁ\.
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 51298, this pair ranks #156,095 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of labeur vs laveur
Shared letters: aelru. Private to "labeur": b. Private to "laveur": v.
"labeur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "laveur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "labeur" and "laveur" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "labeur" or "laveur"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "labeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laveur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,095 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "labeur" and "laveur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lacour vs laveur". 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 #156,095 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.