levéesvslivresWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: levées is a adjective, livres is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“levées” is an adjective and “livres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,750
“levées” frequency rank
#903
“livres” frequency rank
18653
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature levées livres
Definition Féminin pluriel de levé. Pluriel de livre (ouvrage qu’on lit).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set levées and livres apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
levées
6 ch
livres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: levées is \lə.ve\ while livres is \livʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

levées is recorded at frequency rank #17,750, classified as anadj, pronounced \lə.ve\. livres is at rank #903, tagged as anoun, pronounced \livʁ\.

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 18653, this pair ranks #377,198 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of levées vs livres

Shared letters: elsv. Private to "levées": é. Private to "livres": ir.

"levées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "livres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • livresilvres · lirves · livers · livress · livrres · livrse · livvres · llivres

Frequency comparison

levées#17,750
livres#903

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "levées" and "livres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "levées" is an adjective and "livres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "levées" or "livres"?
"livres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #903 in our French list, against #17,750 for "levées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering levées vs livres

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “levées”; for a noun, it's “livres”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “levées” 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