lying
ly·ing/ˈlaɪ.ɪŋ/noun, adjective, verb
lying is spelled L-Y-I-N-G, 2 syllables: ly·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is lieing: about 710 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Lying is a noun meaning “The act of one who lies, or keeps low to the ground”. The plural of lying is lyings.
How many letters and syllables are in lying?
| Letters | 5: L-Y-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: ly·ing |
| In writing | 47 times per million words; the 2,153rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, lieing, about 710 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell lying?
Lying is spelled L-Y-I-N-G. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for lying in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is lying?
Lying appears 47 times per million words in written English, the 2,153rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce lying?
- US /ˈlaɪ.ɪŋ/
Lying has 2 syllables, split ly·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-lying.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with lying?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as lying from its last stressed vowel (/aɪɪŋ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of lying
- lyings plural
- more lying comparative
- lyinger comparative
- most lying superlative
- lyingest superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lying mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of one who lies, or keeps low to the ground.
- 2
An act or telling a lie or falsehood; the practice of telling lies.
adjective
- 1
Tending to tell lies, untruthful, mendacious
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of lie (“to rest in a horizontal position”)
- 2
present participle and gerund of lie (“to intentionally give false information”)
- 3
simple past and past participle of lye
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lying in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | decúbito |
| German | lügend |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lying come from?
lie (“to rest in a horizontal position”) + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).