liaisonvslivraisonWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,691
“liaison” frequency rank
#3,773
“livraison” frequency rank
7464
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature liaison livraison
Definition Union ou jonction de plusieurs corps ensemble. Action de livrer de la marchandise qu’on a vendue.

Where the eye mixes liaison and livraison

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
liaison
9 ch
livraison

Look-alike desk: liaison vs livraison

A purely visual mix-up. liaison (\ljɛ.zɔ̃\) and livraison (\li.vʁɛ.zɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

liaison is recorded at frequency rank #3,691, classified as anoun, pronounced \ljɛ.zɔ̃\. livraison is at rank #3,773, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.vʁɛ.zɔ̃\.

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 7464, this pair ranks #423,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of liaison vs livraison

Shared letters: ailnos. Private to "liaison": -. Private to "livraison": rv.

"liaison" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCVC  ·  "livraison" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liaisonilaison · laiison · liaiosn · liaisno · liaisonn · liaisson · liasion · liiason
  • livraisonilvraison · lirvaison · livarison · livraiosn · livraisno · livraisonn · livraisson · livrasion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "liaison" for "livraison" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ljɛ.zɔ̃\ versus \li.vʁɛ.zɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "liaison" vs "livraison" - which ranks higher?
"liaison" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,691 in our French list, against #3,773 for "livraison". 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 "liaison" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "livraison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #423,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "liaison" and "livraison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liaison vs Louison". 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 #423,082 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