Lie or lye?
lie is a verb meaning “To rest in a horizontal position on a surface”; lye is a noun meaning “An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes)”. Use lie as a verb and lye as a noun (lye is also a verb: “To treat with lye”). They sound the same (/laɪ̯/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) lie is about 132 times as common as lye.
What is the difference between lie and lye?
| lie | lye | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | To rest in a horizontal position on a surface To be placed or situated The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck | An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes) Potassium or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) To treat with lye |
| Example | The book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies in his coffin | none recorded |
| Forms | lies, lying, lay, lain lies, lying, lied | lyes |
| Pronunciation | /laɪ̯/ | /laɪ/ |
| In writing | 69 times per million words | about once in every 2 million words |
Sources: lie and lye in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of lie and lye
lie
- 1
To rest in a horizontal position on a surface
The book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies in his coffin
- 2
The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck
- 3
To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive
When Pinocchio lies, his nose grows
- 4
An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood
I knew he was telling a lie by his facial expression
- 5
To be placed or situated
- 6
The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown
- 7
To convey a false image or impression
Photographs often lie
- 8
A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true
lye
- 1
An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes)
- 2
To treat with lye
- 3
UKA short side line, connected with the main line; a turn-out; a siding
- 4
Potassium or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, lie or lye?
lie appears 69 times per million words; lye about once in every 2 million words.
lie 69 times per million wordslye about once in every 2 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search lie vs lye?
“lie vs lye” is searched about 590 times a month on Google and 50 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“lye vs lie”, “lie or lye”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.