Which to use
“laideur” and “laveur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,019
- “laideur” frequency rank
- #31,116
- “laveur” frequency rank
- 60135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laideur | laveur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État de ce qui est laid. | Celui qui lave. |
Where the eye mixes laideur and laveur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. laideur runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against laveur's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses laideur with laveur
A purely visual mix-up. laideur (\lɛ.dœʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60135, 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\. 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 60135, this pair ranks #99,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of laideur vs laveur
Shared letters: aelru. Private to "laideur": di. Private to "laveur": v.
"laideur" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "laveur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "laideur" and "laveur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "laideur" or "laveur" show up more?
What to do next
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 "laveur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #99,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laideur" 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 #99,263 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.