Which to use
“lame” is an adjective and “lyre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,707
- “lame” frequency rank
- #46,595
- “lyre” frequency rank
- 54302
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lame | lyre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs. | An ancient stringed musical instrument (a yoke lute chordophone) of Greek origin, consisting of two arms extending from a body to a crossbar (a yoke), and strings, parallel to the soundboard, connecting the body to the yoke. |
Where the eye mixes lame and lyre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. lame and lyre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses lame with lyre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lame is /leɪm/ while lyre is /ˈlaɪ.ə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lame is recorded at frequency rank #7,707, classified as anadj, pronounced /leɪm/. lyre is at rank #46,595, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaɪ.ə/.
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 54302, this pair ranks #142,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lame vs lyre
Shared letters: el. Private to "lame": am. Private to "lyre": ry.
"lame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lyre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lame" and "lyre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lame" or "lyre" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lyre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #142,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lame" and "lyre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs lyre". 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 #142,140 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.