Which to use
“labeur” and “liber” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,182
- “labeur” frequency rank
- #29,419
- “liber” frequency rank
- 49601
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | labeur | liber |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Travail pénible exigeant un effort d’une certaine durée. | Tissu végétal secondaire produit par le cambium des tiges et des racines, conducteur de la sève élaborée. |
Where the eye mixes labeur and liber
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. labeur runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against liber's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses labeur with liber
A purely visual mix-up. labeur (\la.bœʁ\) and liber (\li.bɛʁ\) 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 49601, 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\. liber is at rank #29,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.bɛʁ\.
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 49601, this pair ranks #169,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of labeur vs liber
Shared letters: belr. Private to "labeur": au. Private to "liber": i.
"labeur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "liber" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "labeur" and "liber" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "labeur" or "liber"?
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 "liber" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "labeur" and "liber" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liber vs liker". 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 #169,306 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.