liguevslinceTell them apart

Which to use

“ligue” and “lince” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,979
“ligue” frequency rank
#26,906
“lince” frequency rank
57885
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ligue lince
Definition Acción o efecto de ligar, en el sentido de atraer o seducir a alguien en busca de una relación sexual, a menudo pasajera, o de pareja. Mamífero carnívoro de la familia félidos, muy parecido al gato montés.

Where the eye mixes ligue and lince

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ligue (CVCVV) and lince (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
ligue
5 ch
lince

Why the eye confuses ligue with lince

A purely visual mix-up. ligue ([ˈliɣ̞e]) and lince ([ˈlĩnse]) 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 57885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ligue is recorded at frequency rank #30,979, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈliɣ̞e]. lince is at rank #26,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlĩnse].

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 57885, this pair ranks #68,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ligue vs lince

Shared letters: eil. Private to "ligue": gu. Private to "lince": cn.

"ligue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "lince" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ligue ← ilgue · lgiue · ligeu · liggue · liuge · lligue
  • lince ← ilnce · licne · lincce · linec · linnce · linse · llince · lnice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ligue" and "lince" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈliɣ̞e] versus [ˈlĩnse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ligue" or "lince"?
"lince" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,906 in our Spanish list, against #30,979 for "ligue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ligue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lince" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ligue" and "lince" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ligue vs livre". 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 #68,669 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list