Which to use
“labour” is a noun and “labourer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,183
- “labour” frequency rank
- #47,415
- “labourer” frequency rank
- 67598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | labour | labourer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Façon qu’on donne à la terre en la remuant et la retournant en formant des sillons. | Remuer, retourner la terre en formant des sillons avec la charrue, la houe, et autres instruments aratoires. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set labour and labourer apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
labour and labourer form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “labour” sits inside “labourer” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
labour is recorded at frequency rank #20,183, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.buʁ\. labourer is at rank #47,415, tagged as averb, pronounced \la.bu.ʁe\.
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 67598, this pair ranks #62,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "labour" and "labourer" be used interchangeably?
Remembering labour vs labourer
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “labour”; for a verb, it's “labourer”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “labour” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable