Which to use
“larme” is a noun and “lire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,628
- “larme” frequency rank
- #491
- “lire” frequency rank
- 14119
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | larme | lire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Goutte du liquide sécrété par les glandes lacrymales situées à côté de chaque œil. | Interpréter des informations écrites sous forme de mots ou de dessins sur un support. |
Where the eye mixes larme and lire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. larme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against lire's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: larme vs lire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: larme is \laʁm\ while lire is \liʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
larme is recorded at frequency rank #13,628, classified as anoun, pronounced \laʁm\. lire is at rank #491, tagged as averb, pronounced \liʁ\.
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 14119, this pair ranks #398,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of larme vs lire
Shared letters: elr. Private to "larme": am. Private to "lire": i.
"larme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "lire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "larme" for "lire" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "larme" or "lire" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "larme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "larme" and "lire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "larme vs lemme". 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 #398,104 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.