linksvslooksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,951
“links” frequency rank
#436
“looks” frequency rank
2387
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature links looks
Definition plural of link plural of look

Where the eye mixes links and looks

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

5 ch
links
5 ch
looks

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. links (/lɪŋks/) and looks (/lʊks/) 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 2387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

links is recorded at frequency rank #1,951, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɪŋks/. looks is at rank #436, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lʊks/.

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 2387, this pair ranks #525,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of links vs looks

Shared letters: kls. Private to "links": in. Private to "looks": o.

"links" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "looks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linksilnks · likns · linkks · linkss · linnks · linsk · llinks · lniks
  • looksllooks · lokos · loks · lookks · lookss · loosk · oloks

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "links" and "looks" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/lɪŋks/ versus /lʊks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "links" or "looks"?
"looks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #436 in our English list, against #1,951 for "links". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list