leurresvslèvresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,876
“leurres” frequency rank
#2,934
“lèvres” frequency rank
42810
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leurres lèvres
Definition Pluriel de leurre. Pluriel de lèvre.

Where the eye mixes leurres and lèvres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leurres runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against lèvres's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
leurres
6 ch
lèvres

Look-alike desk: leurres vs lèvres

A purely visual mix-up. leurres (\lœʁ\) and lèvres (\lɛvʁ\) 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 42810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leurres is recorded at frequency rank #39,876, classified as anoun, pronounced \lœʁ\. lèvres is at rank #2,934, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɛvʁ\.

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 42810, this pair ranks #222,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leurres vs lèvres

Shared letters: elrs. Private to "leurres": u. Private to "lèvres": vè.

"leurres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "lèvres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leurres ← elurres · lerures · leurers · leures · leurress · leurrse · lleurres · luerres

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leurres" and "lèvres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lœʁ\ versus \lɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "leurres" vs "lèvres" - which ranks higher?
"lèvres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,934 in our French list, against #39,876 for "leurres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "leurres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lèvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #222,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "leurres" and "lèvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leurres vs loutres". 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 #222,788 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