lèvrevslivraWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#13,423
“lèvre” frequency rank
#45,712
“livra” frequency rank
59135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lèvre livra
Definition 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. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de livrer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lèvre and livra apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
lèvre
5 ch
livra

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lèvre is \lɛvʁ\ while livra is \li.vʁa\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lèvre is recorded at frequency rank #13,423, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛvʁ\. livra is at rank #45,712, tagged as averb, pronounced \li.vʁa\.

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 59135, this pair ranks #104,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lèvre vs livra

Shared letters: lrv. Private to "lèvre": . Private to "livra": ai.

"lèvre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "livra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • livrailvra · lirva · livar · livrra · livvra · llivra · lvira

Frequency comparison

lèvre#13,423
livra#45,712

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lèvre" and "livra" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lèvre" is a noun and "livra" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lèvre" or "livra"?
"lèvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,423 in our French list, against #45,712 for "livra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lèvre vs livra

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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