Which to use
“limb” and “lips” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,244
- “limb” frequency rank
- #3,958
- “lips” frequency rank
- 15202
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | limb | lips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A major appendage of human or animal, used for locomotion (such as an arm, leg or wing). | plural of lip |
Where the eye mixes limb and lips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between limb and lips
A purely visual mix-up. limb (/lɪm/) and lips (/lɪps/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
limb is recorded at frequency rank #11,244, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɪm/. lips is at rank #3,958, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɪps/.
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 15202, this pair ranks #465,433 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of limb vs lips
Shared letters: il. Private to "limb": bm. Private to "lips": ps.
"limb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "limb" for "lips" ever safe?
Frequency check: "limb" vs "lips" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "limb" and "lips" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "limb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #465,433 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "limb" and "lips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LIF vs limb". 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 #465,433 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.