lice vs lisle, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#22,140
“lice” frequency rank: #46,029
“lisle” frequency rank: 68169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lice	lisle
Definition	plural of louse	A type of strong cotton thread, or a cloth woven from such thread.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lice and lisle apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

lice

5 ch

lisle

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lice (/laɪs/) and lisle (/laɪl/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lice is recorded at frequency rank #22,140, classified as anoun, pronounced /laɪs/. lisle is at rank #46,029, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪl/.

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 68169, this pair ranks #60,114 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lice vs lisle

Shared letters: eil. Private to "lice": c. Private to "lisle": s.

"lice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lisle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

lice ← ilce · lcie · licce · liec · llice
lisle ← ilsle · lilse · lisel · lislle · lissle · llisle · lsile

Frequency comparison

lice#22,140

lisle#46,029

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lice" and "lisle" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/laɪs/ versus /laɪl/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "lice" or "lisle"?

"lice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,140 in our English list, against #46,029 for "lisle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lice vs lisle

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lice” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable