laideurvslargeurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,019
“laideur” frequency rank
#5,148
“largeur” frequency rank
34167
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laideur largeur
Definition État de ce qui est laid. Étendue d’une chose considérée d’un de ses côtés à l’autre, par opposition à longueur.

Where the eye mixes laideur and largeur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laideur (CVVCVVC) and largeur (CVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
laideur
7 ch
largeur

Visual trap between laideur and largeur

A purely visual mix-up. laideur (\lɛ.dœʁ\) and largeur (\laʁ.ʒœʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laideur is recorded at frequency rank #29,019, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ.dœʁ\. largeur is at rank #5,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced \laʁ.ʒœʁ\.

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 34167, this pair ranks #285,703 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laideur vs largeur

Shared letters: aelru. Private to "laideur": di. Private to "largeur": g.

"laideur" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC  ·  "largeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laideur ← alideur · ladieur · laiddeur · laideru · laideurr · laiduer · laiedur · liadeur
  • largeur ← alrgeur · lagreur · laregur · largeru · largeurr · larggeur · larrgeur · llargeur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laideur" for "largeur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɛ.dœʁ\ versus \laʁ.ʒœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "laideur" vs "largeur" - which ranks higher?
"largeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,148 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laideur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "largeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,703 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laideur" and "largeur" 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 #285,703 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