larvesvslavisTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,926
“larves” frequency rank
#41,866
“lavis” frequency rank
57792
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature larves lavis
Definition Pluriel de larve. Technique de dessin utilisant une seule couleur provenant souvent de l’encre de Chine, mais aussi le bistre, la sépia ou quelque autre substance colorante qui sont utilisées à des degrés de dilution divers.

Where the eye mixes larves and lavis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
larves
5 ch
lavis

Visual trap between larves and lavis

A purely visual mix-up. larves (\laʁv\) and lavis (\la.vi\) 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 57792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

larves is recorded at frequency rank #15,926, classified as anoun, pronounced \laʁv\. lavis is at rank #41,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced \la.vi\.

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 57792, this pair ranks #112,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of larves vs lavis

Shared letters: alsv. Private to "larves": er. Private to "lavis": i.

"larves" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "lavis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • larvesalrves · larevs · larrves · larvess · larvse · larvves · lavres · llarves
  • lavisalvis · laivs · laviss · lavsi · lavvis · llavis · lvais

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "larves" and "lavis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\laʁv\ versus \la.vi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "larves" vs "lavis" - which ranks higher?
"larves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,926 in our French list, against #41,866 for "lavis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "larves" and "lavis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "larves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lavis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "larves" and "lavis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lavait vs lavis". 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 #112,945 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