linkvslipWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,108
“link” frequency rank
#5,808
“lip” frequency rank
6916
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature link lip
Definition A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas. Either of the two fleshy protrusions around the opening of the mouth.

Where the eye mixes link and lip

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

4 ch
link
3 ch
lip

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. link (/lɪŋk/) and lip (/lɪp/) 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 6916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

link is recorded at frequency rank #1,108, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɪŋk/. lip is at rank #5,808, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɪp/.

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 6916, this pair ranks #509,421 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of link vs lip

Shared letters: il. Private to "link": kn. Private to "lip": p.

"link" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lip" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linkilnk · likn · linkk · linnk · llink · lnik

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "link" and "lip" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɪŋk/ versus /lɪp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "link" or "lip"?
"link" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,108 in our English list, against #5,808 for "lip". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "link" and "lip". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "link" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lip" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #509,421 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "link" and "lip" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lip vs LSC". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list