Which to use
“licks” and “limes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,454
- “licks” frequency rank
- #34,961
- “limes” frequency rank
- 60415
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licks | limes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lick | A boundary or border, especially of the Roman Empire. |
Where the eye mixes licks and limes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. licks (CVCCC) and limes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses licks with limes
A purely visual mix-up. licks (/lɪks/) and limes (/ˈlʌɪmiːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licks is recorded at frequency rank #25,454, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɪks/. limes is at rank #34,961, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlʌɪmiːz/.
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 60415, this pair ranks #100,326 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of licks vs limes
Shared letters: ils. Private to "licks": ck. Private to "limes": em.
"licks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "limes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "licks" and "limes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "licks" vs "limes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "licks" and "limes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "licks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "limes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,326 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licks" and "limes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liken vs limes". 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 #100,326 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.