Which to use
“likelihood” and “livelihood” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,167
- “likelihood” frequency rank
- #16,743
- “livelihood” frequency rank
- 24910
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | likelihood | livelihood |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The probability of a specified outcome; the chance of something happening; probability; the state or degree of being probable. | A means of providing the necessities of life for oneself (for example, a job or income). |
Where the eye mixes likelihood and livelihood
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: likelihood vs livelihood
A purely visual mix-up. likelihood (/ˈlaɪklihʊd/) and livelihood (/ˈlaɪvlihʊd/) 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 - k in “likelihood” becomes v in “livelihood”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
likelihood is recorded at frequency rank #8,167, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaɪklihʊd/. livelihood is at rank #16,743, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈlaɪvlihʊd/.
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 24910, this pair ranks #398,375 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of likelihood vs livelihood
Shared letters: dehilo. Private to "likelihood": k. Private to "livelihood": v.
"likelihood" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC · "livelihood" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- likelihood ← ilkelihood · lieklihood · likeilhood · likelhiood · likelihhood · likelihod · likelihodo · likelihoodd
- livelihood ← ilvelihood · lievlihood · liveilhood · livelhiood · livelihhood · livelihod · livelihodo · livelihoodd
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "likelihood" for "livelihood" ever safe?
Which is more common, "likelihood" or "livelihood"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "likelihood" and "livelihood" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "likelihood" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "livelihood" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #398,375 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #398,375 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.