linesvslopesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,197
“lines” frequency rank
#44,310
“lopes” frequency rank
45507
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lines lopes
Definition plural of line plural of lope

Where the eye mixes lines and lopes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
lines
5 ch
lopes

Look-alike desk: lines vs lopes

A purely visual mix-up. lines (/laɪnz/) and lopes (/loʊps/) 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 45507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lines is recorded at frequency rank #1,197, classified as anoun, pronounced /laɪnz/. lopes is at rank #44,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced /loʊps/.

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 45507, this pair ranks #220,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lines vs lopes

Shared letters: els. Private to "lines": in. Private to "lopes": op.

"lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lopes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linesilnes · liens · liness · linnes · linse · llines · lnies
  • lopesllopes · loeps · lopess · loppes · lopse · lpoes · olpes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lines" and "lopes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/laɪnz/ versus /loʊps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lines" vs "lopes" - which ranks higher?
"lines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,197 in our English list, against #44,310 for "lopes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "lines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lopes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #220,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lines" and "lopes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lope vs lopes". 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 #220,644 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