limevslinkConfusable pair

Which to use

“lime” and “link” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,814
“lime” frequency rank
#1,108
“link” frequency rank
9922
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lime link
Definition Any inorganic material containing calcium, usually calcium oxide (quicklime) or calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.

Where the eye mixes lime and link

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
lime
4 ch
link

Visual trap between lime and link

A purely visual mix-up. lime (/laɪm/) and link (/lɪŋk/) 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 9922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lime is recorded at frequency rank #8,814, classified as anoun, pronounced /laɪm/. link is at rank #1,108, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɪŋk/.

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 9922, this pair ranks #494,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of lime vs link

Shared letters: il. Private to "lime": em. Private to "link": kn.

"lime" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "link" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • limeilme · liem · limme · llime · lmie
  • linkilnk · likn · linkk · linnk · llink · lnik

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lime" and "link" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/laɪm/ versus /lɪŋk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lime" or "link"?
"link" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,108 in our English list, against #8,814 for "lime". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "lime" and "link" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "link" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #494,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lime" and "link" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lime vs lope". 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 #494,910 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list