librevsligureConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#648
“libre” frequency rank
#44,548
“ligure” frequency rank
45196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature libre ligure
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. Relatif à la Ligurie ou sa culture.

Where the eye mixes libre and ligure

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

5 ch
libre
6 ch
ligure

Why the eye confuses libre with ligure

A purely visual mix-up. libre (\libʁ\) and ligure (\li.ɡyʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

libre is recorded at frequency rank #648, classified as anadj, pronounced \libʁ\. ligure is at rank #44,548, tagged as anadj, pronounced \li.ɡyʁ\.

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 45196, this pair ranks #204,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of libre vs ligure

Shared letters: eilr. Private to "libre": b. Private to "ligure": gu.

"libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "ligure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • libreilbre · lbire · libbre · librre · lirbe · llibre
  • ligureilgure · lgiure · liggure · ligrue · liguer · ligurre · liugre · lligure

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "libre" and "ligure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\libʁ\ versus \li.ɡyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "libre" vs "ligure" - which ranks higher?
"libre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #648 in our French list, against #44,548 for "ligure". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "libre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ligure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,630 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "libre" and "ligure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ligure vs lure". 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 #204,630 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