lavervslevierTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,047
“laver” frequency rank
#8,416
“levier” frequency rank
13463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laver levier
Definition Nettoyer avec de l’eau, pure ou savonneuse ou de lessive, ou, avec tout autre liquide. Barre rigide que l’on fixe à un point d’appui servant à faciliter un mouvement pour déplacer, soutenir ou soulever d’autres corps.

Where the eye mixes laver and levier

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

5 ch
laver
6 ch
levier

Look-alike desk: laver vs levier

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laver is \la.ve\ while levier is \lə.vje\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13463, 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\. levier is at rank #8,416, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lə.vje\.

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 13463, this pair ranks #400,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of laver vs levier

Shared letters: elrv. Private to "laver": a. Private to "levier": i.

"laver" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "levier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • laveralver · laevr · laverr · lavre · lavver · llaver · lvaer
  • levierelvier · leiver · leveir · levierr · levire · levvier · llevier · lveier

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "laver" and "levier" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "laver" is a verb and "levier" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "laver" vs "levier" - which ranks higher?
"laver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,047 in our French list, against #8,416 for "levier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "laver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "levier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,934 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laver" and "levier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laver vs liker". 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 #400,934 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