lèvrevslureConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,423
“lèvre” frequency rank
#48,019
“lure” frequency rank
61442
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lèvre lure
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. Leurre.

Where the eye mixes lèvre and lure

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

5 ch
lèvre
4 ch
lure

Why the eye confuses lèvre with lure

A purely visual mix-up. lèvre (\lɛvʁ\) and lure (\lʊər\) 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 61442, 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\. lure is at rank #48,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lʊər\.

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 61442, this pair ranks #92,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lèvre vs lure

Shared letters: elr. Private to "lèvre": vè. Private to "lure": u.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lure ← llure · lrue · lurre · ulre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lèvre" for "lure" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\lɛvʁ\ versus \lʊər\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "lèvre" or "lure" show up more?
"lèvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,423 in our French list, against #48,019 for "lure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lèvre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lèvre" and "lure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lar vs lure". 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 #92,267 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