Which to use
“libre” is an adjective and “libro” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #648
- “libre” frequency rank
- #47,426
- “libro” frequency rank
- 48074
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | libre | libro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a le pouvoir de faire ce qu’il veut, d’agir ou de ne pas agir, par opposition à esclave, servile, ou par opposition à captif, prisonnier. | Livre. |
Where the eye mixes libre and libro
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses libre with libro
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: libre is \libʁ\ while libro is \ˈli.βɾo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “libre” becomes o in “libro”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
libre is recorded at frequency rank #648, classified as anadj, pronounced \libʁ\. libro is at rank #47,426, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈli.βɾo\.
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 48074, this pair ranks #181,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of libre vs libro
Shared letters: bilr. Private to "libre": e. Private to "libro": o.
"libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "libro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "libre" for "libro" ever safe?
Frequency check: "libre" vs "libro" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "libre" and "libro" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "libre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "libro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,873 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "libre" and "libro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "libro vs lobo". 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 #181,873 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.