Lay or lie?
lay means “To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position”, and lie means “To rest in a horizontal position on a surface”. lay is also the simple past of lie, which is where the two meet. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) lie is about 1.6 times as common as lay.
What is the difference between lay and lie?
| lay | lie | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun, adjective | verb, noun |
| Meaning | simple past of lie To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost) Arrangement or relationship; layout | To rest in a horizontal position on a surface To be placed or situated To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive To convey a false image or impression |
| Example | to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave | The book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies in his coffin |
| Forms | lays, laying, laid | lies, lying, lay, lain |
| Pronunciation | /leɪ/ | /laɪ̯/ |
| In writing | 44 times per million words | 69 times per million words |
Sources: lay and lie in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of lay and lie
lay
- 1
To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position
to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
- 2
Arrangement or relationship; layout
the lay of the land
- 3
A lake
- 4
Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them
They seemed more lay than clerical
- 5
A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung
- 6
To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries))
- 7
To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost)
- 8
A share of the profits in a business
While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay
lie
- 1
To rest in a horizontal position on a surface
The book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies in his coffin
- 2
The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck
- 3
To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive
When Pinocchio lies, his nose grows
- 4
An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood
I knew he was telling a lie by his facial expression
- 5
To be placed or situated
- 6
The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown
- 7
To convey a false image or impression
Photographs often lie
- 8
A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, lay or lie?
lay appears 44 times per million words; lie 69 times per million words.
lay 44 times per million wordslie 69 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search lay vs lie?
“lay vs lie” is searched about 12,100 times a month on Google and 700 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“lie vs lay”, “lay or lie”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.