lifelike
/ˈlaɪflaɪk/
"lifelike" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lifelike” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #39,395 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #39,395
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Like a living being, resembling life, giving an accurate representation
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lifelike |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪflaɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #39,395 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lifelike” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lifelike is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlaɪflaɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #39,395 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Like a living being, resembling life, giving an accurate representation".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for lifelike, with forms such as "ilfelike", "lfielike", and "lieflike". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "lifetime", "lifeline", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From life + -like. The correct English form is lifelike, spelled L-I-F-E-L-I-K-E.
Definition
- 1Like a living being, resembling life, giving an accurate representation
Etymology
From life + -like.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ilfelike,lfielike,lieflike,lifeilke,lifeliek,lifelikke,lifelkie,lifellike,liffelike,lifleike,llifelike
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lifelike - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "lifelike"?
What does "lifelike" mean?
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Using “lifelike”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-I-F-E-L-I-K-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlaɪflaɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lifetime” - see the side-by-side comparison. lifelike vs lifetime
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.