familyvslimitedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: family is a noun, limited is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“family” is a noun and “limited” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,759
“family” frequency rank
#15,422
“limited” frequency rank
23181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature family limited
Definition Familie Partizip Perfekt (past participle) des Verbs limit

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set family and limited apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
family
7 ch
limited

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: family is anoun and limitedaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

family is recorded at frequency rank #7,759, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. limited is at rank #15,422, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 23181, this pair ranks #1,864,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of family vs limited

Shared letters: ilm. Private to "family": afy. Private to "limited": det.

"family" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "limited" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • familyafmily · faimly · familly · familyy · famiyl · famliy · fammily · ffamily
  • limitedilmited · liimted · limietd · limitde · limitedd · limitted · limmited · limtied

Frequency comparison

family#7,759
limited#15,422

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "family" and "limited" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "family" is a noun and "limited" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "family" or "limited"?
"family" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,759 in our German list, against #15,422 for "limited". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering family vs limited

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “family”; for a verb, it's “limited”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “family” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list