LICvslinkConfusable pair

Which to use

“LIC” and “link” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,238
“LIC” frequency rank
#1,108
“link” frequency rank
43346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature LIC link
Definition Acronym of ligand-gated ion channel. A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.

Letter map: LIC vs link

Shared letters muted; letters that set LIC and link apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
LIC
4 ch
link

Corpus notes: LIC and link

LIC and link are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

LIC is recorded at frequency rank #42,238, classified as anoun. link is at rank #1,108, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɪŋk/.

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 43346, this pair ranks #240,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of LIC vs link

Shared letters: il. Private to "LIC": c. Private to "link": kn.

"LIC" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "link" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linkilnk · likn · linkk · linnk · llink · lnik

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "LIC" and "link" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "LIC" vs "link" - which ranks higher?
"link" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,108 in our English list, against #42,238 for "LIC". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "LIC" vs "link" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "LIC" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "link" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #240,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "LIC" and "link" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LIC vs LSC". 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 #240,868 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list