lavervslerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: laver is a verb, ler is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“laver” is a verb and “ler” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,047
“laver” frequency rank
#41,868
“ler” frequency rank
46915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laver ler
Definition Nettoyer avec de l’eau, pure ou savonneuse ou de lessive, ou, avec tout autre liquide. Pin.

Letter map: laver vs ler

Shared letters muted; letters that set laver and ler apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
laver
3 ch
ler

Grammar separator: laver vs ler

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: laver is averb and leranoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laver is recorded at frequency rank #5,047, classified as averb, pronounced \la.ve\. ler is at rank #41,868, tagged as anoun.

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 46915, this pair ranks #191,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of laver vs ler

Shared letters: elr. Private to "laver": av. Private to "ler": -.

"laver" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laveralver · laevr · laverr · lavre · lavver · llaver · lvaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "laver" for "ler" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laver" is a verb and "ler" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "laver" vs "ler" - which ranks higher?
"laver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,047 in our French list, against #41,868 for "ler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "laver" and "ler". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #191,041 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laver" and "ler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs ler". 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 #191,041 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