leviervslèvreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,416
“levier” frequency rank
#13,423
“lèvre” frequency rank
21839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature levier lèvre
Definition Barre rigide que l’on fixe à un point d’appui servant à faciliter un mouvement pour déplacer, soutenir ou soulever d’autres corps. 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 levier and lèvre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
levier
5 ch
lèvre

Visual trap between levier and lèvre

A purely visual mix-up. levier (\lə.vje\) and lèvre (\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 21839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

levier is recorded at frequency rank #8,416, classified as anoun, pronounced \lə.vje\. 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 21839, this pair ranks #361,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of levier vs lèvre

Shared letters: elrv. Private to "levier": i. Private to "lèvre": è.

"levier" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "lèvre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • levierelvier · leiver · leveir · levierr · levire · levvier · llevier · lveier

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "levier" for "lèvre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lə.vje\ versus \lɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "levier" or "lèvre"?
"levier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,416 in our French list, against #13,423 for "lèvre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "levier" and "lèvre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "levier" 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 #361,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "levier" and "lèvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lèvre vs Livry". 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 #361,182 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