liken
/ˈlaɪk(ə)n/
"liken" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“liken” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #48,864 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #48,864
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Followed by to or (archaic) unto: to regard or state that (someone or something) is like another person or thing; to compare.
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 | liken |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈlaɪk(ə)n/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #48,864 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “liken” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for liken is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlaɪk(ə)n/. Corpus data places it at rank #48,864 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for liken, with forms such as "ilken", "liekn", and "likenn". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lin", "live", "line", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English liknen (“to be comparable; to compare (often disparagingly); to make (someone) equal to another person; to regard (something) as equal to another thing; to regard (something) as likely; to resemble; to take (something) as a substitute; t… The correct English form is liken, spelled L-I-K-E-N.
Definition
- 1Followed by to or (archaic) unto: to regard or state that (someone or something) is like another person or thing; to compare.
- 2Chiefly followed by to: to make (oneself, someone, or something) resemble another person or thing.
- 3To represent or symbolize (something).
- 4Followed by to: to be like or resemble; also, to become like.
Etymology
From Middle English liknen (“to be comparable; to compare (often disparagingly); to make (someone) equal to another person; to regard (something) as equal to another thing; to regard (something) as likely; to resemble; to take (something) as a substitute; to apply, be adapted or suitable; to tend (to sin)”) [and other forms], from liken (“to be comparable; to compare; to be appropriate; to form”), from lik (“alike, analogous, similar; appropriate, suitable; equal; homogeneous; identical, the same; indicative; likely (to be or do something), probable; possible; simultaneous; more or most like (?)”) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs). Lik is derived from Old English ġelīċ (“like, similar”), from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“like, similar; equal”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“like, similar; even, level”). The English word is analysable as like (adjective) + -en (suffix forming verbs with the sense ‘to make [adjective]’).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ilken,liekn,likenn,likken,likne,lkien,lliken
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of liken - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “liken”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-I-K-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlaɪk(ə)n/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lin” - see the side-by-side comparison. liken vs lin
- 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.