Which to use
“litre” and “livres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,189
- “litre” frequency rank
- #903
- “livres” frequency rank
- 10092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | litre | livres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unité de capacité du système métrique égale à un décimètre cube (dm³), couramment employé pour mesurer les volumes. | Pluriel de livre (ouvrage qu’on lit). |
Where the eye mixes litre and livres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. litre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against livres's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: litre vs livres
A purely visual mix-up. litre (\litʁ\) and livres (\livʁ\) 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 10092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
litre is recorded at frequency rank #9,189, classified as anoun, pronounced \litʁ\. livres is at rank #903, tagged as anoun, pronounced \livʁ\.
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 10092, this pair ranks #414,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of litre vs livres
Shared letters: eilr. Private to "litre": t. Private to "livres": sv.
"litre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "livres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "litre" and "livres" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "litre" or "livres"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "litre" and "livres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "litre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "livres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "litre" and "livres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "litre vs Livry". 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 #414,259 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.