levurevslièvreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#19,056
“levure” frequency rank
#18,525
“lièvre” frequency rank
37581
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature levure lièvre
Definition Écume que fait la bière quand elle fermente, et dont les boulangers et les pâtissiers se servent quelquefois au lieu d’autre levain. Quadrupède mammifère, à longues oreilles, de la famille des léporidés, qui a les pattes de derrière plus longues que celles de devant, ce qui le rend très rapide à la course.

Where the eye mixes levure and lièvre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. levure (CVCVCV) and lièvre (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
levure
6 ch
lièvre

Look-alike desk: levure vs lièvre

A purely visual mix-up. levure (\lə.vyʁ\) and lièvre (\ljɛvʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

levure is recorded at frequency rank #19,056, classified as anoun, pronounced \lə.vyʁ\. lièvre is at rank #18,525, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ljɛvʁ\.

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 37581, this pair ranks #261,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of levure vs lièvre

Shared letters: elrv. Private to "levure": u. Private to "lièvre": iè.

"levure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "lièvre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • levure ← elvure · leuvre · levrue · levuer · levurre · levvure · llevure · lveure

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "levure" and "lièvre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\lə.vyʁ\ versus \ljɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "levure" or "lièvre"?
"lièvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,525 in our French list, against #19,056 for "levure". 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 "levure" and "lièvre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "levure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lièvre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "levure" and "lièvre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lièvre 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 #261,487 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