Which to use
“libre” is an adjective and “lyre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #648
- “libre” frequency rank
- #30,253
- “lyre” frequency rank
- 30901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | libre | lyre |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Cordophone portable à cordes pincées parallèles au chevalet, dont la caisse de résonance ne se prolonge pas par un manche, qui était en usage chez les anciens. |
Where the eye mixes libre and lyre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between libre and lyre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: libre is \libʁ\ while lyre is \liʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30901, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
libre is recorded at frequency rank #648, classified as anadj, pronounced \libʁ\. lyre is at rank #30,253, tagged as anoun, pronounced \liʁ\.
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 30901, this pair ranks #307,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of libre vs lyre
Shared letters: elr. Private to "libre": bi. Private to "lyre": y.
"libre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "lyre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "libre" and "lyre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "libre" or "lyre" show up more?
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 "lyre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "libre" and "lyre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lar vs lyre". 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 #307,292 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.