labor vs laboral, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“labor” is a verb and “laboral” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,447
“labor” frequency rank: #20,926
“laboral” frequency rank: 47373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	labor	laboral
Definition	escorregar, cair	o mesmo que trabalhista

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set labor and laboral apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

labor

7 ch

laboral

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: labor is averb and laboralanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “labor” sits inside “laboral”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

labor is recorded at frequency rank #26,447, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlaː.bor/, /ˈɫaː.bɔr/. laboral is at rank #20,926, tagged as anadj.

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 47373, this pair ranks #17,885 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of labor vs laboral

Shared letters: ablor. Private to "labor": -. Private to "laboral": -.

"labor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "laboral" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

labor ← albor · labbor · laborr · labro · laobr · lbaor · llabor
laboral ← alboral · labboral · laboarl · laborall · laborla · laborral · labroal · laobral

Frequency comparison

labor#26,447

laboral#20,926

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "labor" and "laboral" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "labor" is a verb and "laboral" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "labor" or "laboral"?

"laboral" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,926 in our Portuguese list, against #26,447 for "labor". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering labor vs laboral

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “labor”; for an adjective, it's “laboral”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “labor” entry
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