lèvresvslibresWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lèvres is a noun, libres is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lèvres” is a noun and “libres” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,934
“lèvres” frequency rank
#2,933
“libres” frequency rank
5867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lèvres libres
Definition Pluriel de lèvre. Pluriel de libre.

Where the eye mixes lèvres and libres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
lèvres
6 ch
libres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lèvres is \lɛvʁ\ while libres is \libʁ\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lèvres is recorded at frequency rank #2,934, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛvʁ\. libres is at rank #2,933, tagged as anadj, pronounced \libʁ\.

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 5867, this pair ranks #427,840 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lèvres vs libres

Shared letters: elrs. Private to "lèvres": . Private to "libres": bi.

"lèvres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "libres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • libresilbres · lbires · libbres · libers · libress · librres · librse · lirbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lèvres" and "libres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lèvres" is a noun and "libres" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lèvres" or "libres"?
"libres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,933 in our French list, against #2,934 for "lèvres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list