lèvrevsloreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,423
“lèvre” frequency rank
#41,873
“lore” frequency rank
55296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lèvre lore
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. Partie entre l’œil et la base du bec chez les oiseaux.

Where the eye mixes lèvre and lore

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lèvre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against lore's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lèvre
4 ch
lore

Visual trap between lèvre and lore

A purely visual mix-up. lèvre (\lɛvʁ\) and lore (\lɔʁ\) 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 55296, 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\. lore is at rank #41,873, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔʁ\.

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 55296, this pair ranks #128,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lèvre vs lore

Shared letters: elr. Private to "lèvre": vè. Private to "lore": o.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lore ← llore · loer · lorre · lroe · olre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lèvre" and "lore" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɛvʁ\ versus \lɔʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lèvre" vs "lore" - which ranks higher?
"lèvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,423 in our French list, against #41,873 for "lore". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lèvre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lore" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lèvre" and "lore" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lobo vs lore". 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 #128,365 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