levivslèvreWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#25,379
“levi” frequency rank
#13,423
“lèvre” frequency rank
38802
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature levi lèvre
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du futur de l’indicatif du verbe leviañ/leviat. Partie extérieure et charnue qui borde la bouche, qui couvre les dents et qui aide à la formation des sons, à l’articulation des mots. Note d’usage : Très souvent employé au pluriel pour comprendre la lèvre supérieure et la lèvre inférieure.

Where the eye mixes levi and lèvre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
levi
5 ch
lèvre

Why the eye confuses levi with lèvre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: levi is \ˈleː.vi\ while lèvre is \lɛvʁ\. 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 38802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

levi is recorded at frequency rank #25,379, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈleː.vi\. lèvre is at rank #13,423, 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 38802, this pair ranks #252,695 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of levi vs lèvre

Shared letters: elv. Private to "levi": i. Private to "lèvre": .

"levi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lèvre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • levielvi · leiv · levvi · llevi · lvei

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "levi" and "lèvre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "levi" is a verb and "lèvre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "levi" or "lèvre" show up more?
"lèvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,423 in our French list, against #25,379 for "levi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "levi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lèvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,695 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "levi" and "lèvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs levi". 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 #252,695 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