Which to use
“lis” and “lives” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,263
- “lis” frequency rank
- #30,669
- “lives” frequency rank
- 68932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lis | lives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Stieleiche | Plural des Substantivs life |
Where the eye mixes lis and lives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between lis and lives
A purely visual mix-up. lis ([lis]) and lives ([laɪvz]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lis is recorded at frequency rank #38,263, classified as anoun, pronounced [lis]. lives is at rank #30,669, tagged as anoun, pronounced [laɪvz].
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 68932, this pair ranks #492,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lis vs lives
Shared letters: ils. Private to "lis": -. Private to "lives": ev.
"lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lives ← ilves · lievs · livess · livse · livves · llives · lvies
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lis" and "lives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "lis" vs "lives" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #492,315 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lis" and "lives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lees vs lis". 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 #492,315 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.