Libel is written down, printed or published; slander is spoken. If someone prints a false claim about you, that is libel; if they say it out loud on the radio, that is slander. Memory hook: libel looks like it belongs on a page, slander sounds like it belongs on the air.
The core difference
Both are false, damaging statements about a person, but libel is in a fixed, published form while slander is spoken.
- libel — a false published statement that damages someone's reputation: The tabloid printed a libel about the actor and got sued for it.
- slander — a false spoken statement that damages someone's reputation: She sued her former colleague for slander after he spread false rumours about her.
How to tell them apart
The simplest test is the medium: if the false claim was written, printed or shown as a picture, it is libel. If it was spoken, such as in conversation or on a broadcast, it is slander. Both words also work as verbs: a newspaper can libel someone, and a person can slander a colleague.
The mix-up shows up most in news stories about lawsuits, where writers reach for whichever word sounds more serious rather than checking whether the statement was written or said aloud. A radio comment is slander even if it later gets reported in print; the original spoken statement is what matters.
