Which to use
“liken” is a verb and “likes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,864
- “liken” frequency rank
- #1,907
- “likes” frequency rank
- 50771
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | liken | likes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Followed by to or (archaic) unto: to regard or state that (someone or something) is like another person or thing; to compare. | plural of like |
Where the eye mixes liken and likes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. liken and likes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between liken and likes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: liken is /ˈlaɪk(ə)n/ while likes is /laɪks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “liken” becomes s in “likes”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
liken is recorded at frequency rank #48,864, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlaɪk(ə)n/. likes is at rank #1,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪks/.
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 50771, this pair ranks #171,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of liken vs likes
Shared letters: eikl. Private to "liken": n. Private to "likes": s.
"liken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "likes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "liken" and "likes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "liken" or "likes"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "liken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "likes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "liken" and "likes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liken 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 #171,301 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.