lervslierTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#41,868
“ler” frequency rank
#10,528
“lier” frequency rank
52396
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ler lier
Definition Pin. Serrer avec une corde ou avec toute autre chose flexible.

Letter map: ler vs lier

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

3 ch
ler
4 ch
lier

Role in the sentence - ler and lier

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ler is anoun and lieraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ler is recorded at frequency rank #41,868, classified as anoun. lier is at rank #10,528, tagged as averb, pronounced \li.je\.

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 52396, this pair ranks #148,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ler vs lier

Shared letters: elr. Private to "ler": -. Private to "lier": i.

"ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lieriler · leir · lierr · llier

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ler" for "lier" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ler" is a noun and "lier" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ler" or "lier"?
"lier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,528 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ler" and "lier".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #148,007 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ler" and "lier" 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 #148,007 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