Which to use
“licks” and “lis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,454
- “licks” frequency rank
- #25,822
- “lis” frequency rank
- 51276
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licks | lis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lick | Clipping of fleur-de-lis. |
Letter map: licks vs lis
Shared letters muted; letters that set licks and lis apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Corpus notes: licks and lis
licks and lis 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51276, 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/. lis is at rank #25,822, tagged as anoun.
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 51276, this pair ranks #166,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of licks vs lis
Shared letters: ils. Private to "licks": ck. Private to "lis": -.
"licks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- licks ← ilcks · lciks · liccks · lickks · lickss · licsk · likcs · llicks
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "licks" and "lis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "licks" or "lis" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "licks" vs "lis" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "licks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licks" and "lis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lis 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 #166,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.