liegvslinesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#34,786
“lieg” frequency rank
#21,343
“lines” frequency rank
56129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lieg lines
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs liegen Plural des Substantivs line

Where the eye mixes lieg and lines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lieg
5 ch
lines

Visual trap between lieg and lines

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lieg is [liːk] while lines is [laɪnz]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lieg is recorded at frequency rank #34,786, classified as averb, pronounced [liːk]. lines is at rank #21,343, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laɪnz].

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 56129, this pair ranks #952,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lieg vs lines

Shared letters: eil. Private to "lieg": g. Private to "lines": ns.

"lieg" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liegileg · leig · liegg · lige · llieg
  • linesilnes · liens · liness · linnes · llines · lnies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lieg" and "lines" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lieg" is a verb and "lines" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lieg" vs "lines" - which ranks higher?
"lines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,343 in our German list, against #34,786 for "lieg". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lieg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #952,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lieg" and "lines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lieg". 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 #952,311 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list