Which to use
“lint” is a noun and “lying” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,346
- “lint” frequency rank
- #2,164
- “lying” frequency rank
- 31510
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lint | lying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clinging fuzzy fluff that clings to fabric or accumulates in one's pockets or navel etc. | present participle and gerund of lie (“to rest in a horizontal position”) |
Where the eye mixes lint and lying
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: lint vs lying
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lint is /lɪnt/ while lying is /ˈlaɪ.ɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lint is recorded at frequency rank #29,346, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɪnt/. lying is at rank #2,164, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlaɪ.ɪŋ/.
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 31510, this pair ranks #345,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lint vs lying
Shared letters: iln. Private to "lint": t. Private to "lying": gy.
"lint" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "lying" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lint" and "lying" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "lint" or "lying" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "lint" and "lying" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lint" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #345,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lint" and "lying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LIF vs lint". 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 #345,500 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.