# lay vs li

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### lay
*verb · IPA /leɪ/ · frequency rank #2,302*
To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.

### li
*noun · IPA /liː/ · frequency rank #4,685*
The Chinese mile, a traditional unit of distance equal to 1500 chis or 150 zhangs, now standardized as a half-kilometer (500 meters).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lay-vs-li