Which to use
“licked” and “linked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,692
- “licked” frequency rank
- #2,797
- “linked” frequency rank
- 23489
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licked | linked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having been the target of a lick; touched by a tongue. | Connected, either with links, or as if with links. |
Where the eye mixes licked and linked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between licked and linked
A purely visual mix-up. licked (/lɪkt/) and linked (/lɪŋkt/) 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 a single letter - c in “licked” becomes n in “linked”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licked is recorded at frequency rank #20,692, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɪkt/. linked is at rank #2,797, tagged as anadj, pronounced /lɪŋkt/.
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 23489, this pair ranks #408,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of licked vs linked
Shared letters: deikl. Private to "licked": c. Private to "linked": n.
"licked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "linked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "licked" and "linked" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "licked" or "linked"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "licked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "linked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,883 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licked" and "linked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "licked vs linker". 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 #408,883 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.