Lean or lien?
lean is a verb meaning “To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position…”; lien is a noun meaning “A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or…”. Use lean as a verb and lien as a noun (lean is also a noun: “An inclination away from the vertical”). They sound the same (/ˈliːn/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) lean is about 8.7 times as common as lien.
What is the difference between lean and lien?
| lean | lien | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun, adjective | noun |
| Meaning | To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc An inclination away from the vertical | A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged |
| Example | a leaning column | The lien or spleen (figs. 282 to 285) is a soft, highly vascular contractile and very elastic organ of a dark purplish colour. It is placed… |
| Forms | leans, leaning, leaned, leant leans, leaning, leaned | liens lienes |
| Pronunciation | /ˈliːn/ [ˈlɪi̯n] ~ [ˈlɪ̈i̯n] | /liːn/ /ˈliːən/ /ˈlaɪ.in/ |
| In writing | 14 times per million words | 1.6 times per million words |
Sources: lean and lien 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 lean and lien
lean
- 1
To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating
a leaning column
- 2
An inclination away from the vertical
The trees had various leans toward gaps in the canopy
- 3
Slim; not fleshy
- 4
Meat with no fat on it
- 5
To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen
- 6
USslangA recreational drug composed of codeine-promethazine cough syrup mixed with usually soda and associated with the hip-hop culture of the Southern United States
- 7
To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc
I’m leaning towards voting Conservative in the next election
- 8
Having little fat
lean steak cuts
lien
- 1
A right to take possession of a debtor’s property as security until a debt or duty is discharged
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, lean or lien?
lean appears 14 times per million words; lien 1.6 times per million words.
lean 14 times per million wordslien 1.6 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 lean vs lien?
“lean vs lien” is searched about 50 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“lien vs lean”, “lean or lien”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.