Which to use
“lilies” and “lines” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,891
- “lilies” frequency rank
- #1,197
- “lines” frequency rank
- 25088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lilies | lines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lily | plural of line |
Where the eye mixes lilies and lines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lilies vs lines
A purely visual mix-up. lilies (/ˈlɪliz/) and lines (/laɪnz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lilies is recorded at frequency rank #23,891, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɪliz/. lines is at rank #1,197, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪnz/.
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 25088, this pair ranks #397,018 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lilies vs lines
Shared letters: eils. Private to "lilies": -. Private to "lines": n.
"lilies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lilies" and "lines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "lilies" or "lines" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lilies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,018 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lilies" and "lines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lilian vs lilies". 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 #397,018 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.