labovslbConfusable pair

Quick tell: labo is a noun, lb is a symbol, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“labo” is a noun and “lb” is a symbol - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,609
“labo” frequency rank
#22,921
“lb” frequency rank
35530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature labo lb
Definition Laboratoire. 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.

Letter map: labo vs lb

Shared letters muted; letters that set labo and lb apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
labo
2 ch
lb

Part-of-speech tell for labo / lb

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: labo is anoun and lbasymbol. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labo is recorded at frequency rank #12,609, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.bo\. lb is at rank #22,921, tagged as asymbol.

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 35530, this pair ranks #276,070 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of labo vs lb

Shared letters: bl. Private to "labo": ao. Private to "lb": -.

"labo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lb" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laboalbo · labbo · laob · lbao · llabo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "labo" and "lb" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "labo" is a noun and "lb" a symbol, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "labo" vs "lb" - which ranks higher?
"labo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,609 in our French list, against #22,921 for "lb". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "labo" vs "lb" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "labo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lb" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #276,070 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "labo" and "lb" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lb vs lobo". 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 #276,070 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