levuresvslièvresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,578
“levures” frequency rank
#41,388
“lièvres” frequency rank
72966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature levures lièvres
Definition Pluriel de levure. Pluriel de lièvre.

Where the eye mixes levures and lièvres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. levures (CVCVCVC) and lièvres (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
levures
7 ch
lièvres

Why the eye confuses levures with lièvres

A purely visual mix-up. levures (\lə.vyʁ\) and lièvres (\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 72966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

levures is recorded at frequency rank #31,578, classified as anoun, pronounced \lə.vyʁ\. lièvres is at rank #41,388, 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 72966, this pair ranks #42,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of levures vs lièvres

Shared letters: elrsv. Private to "levures": u. Private to "lièvres": iè.

"levures" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "lièvres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • levures ← elvures · leuvres · levrues · levuers · levuress · levurres · levurse · levvures

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "levures" and "lièvres" 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.
Frequency check: "levures" vs "lièvres" - which ranks higher?
"levures" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,578 in our French list, against #41,388 for "lièvres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "levures" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lièvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "levures" and "lièvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lièvres vs lires". 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 #42,172 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