lervslyreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,868
“ler” frequency rank
#30,253
“lyre” frequency rank
72121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ler lyre
Definition Pin. Cordophone portable à cordes pincées parallèles au chevalet, dont la caisse de résonance ne se prolonge pas par un manche, qui était en usage chez les anciens.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ler and lyre apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ler
4 ch
lyre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

ler and lyre are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ler is recorded at frequency rank #41,868, classified as anoun. lyre is at rank #30,253, tagged as anoun, 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 72121, this pair ranks #45,120 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ler vs lyre

Shared letters: elr. Private to "ler": -. Private to "lyre": y.

"ler" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "lyre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lyrellyre · lrye · lyer · lyrre · lyyre · ylre

Frequency comparison

ler#41,868
lyre#30,253

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ler" and "lyre" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "ler" or "lyre"?
"lyre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,253 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.

Remembering ler vs lyre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ler” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list