líneavslinesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#445
“línea” frequency rank
#42,009
“lines” frequency rank
42454
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature línea lines
Definition Serie continua de puntos sucesivos formando una raya o segmento longitudinal en cualquier trayecto (recto, curvo, etc.). La forma exterior o proporciones de un barco, edificio, etcétera.

Where the eye mixes línea and lines

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

5 ch
línea
5 ch
lines

Visual trap between línea and lines

A purely visual mix-up. línea ([ˈlinea]) and lines (/laɪnz/) 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 42454, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

línea is recorded at frequency rank #445, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈlinea]. lines is at rank #42,009, tagged as anoun, pronounced /laɪnz/.

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 42454, this pair ranks #148,124 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of línea vs lines

Shared letters: eln. Private to "línea": aí. Private to "lines": is.

"línea" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lines ← ilnes · liens · liness · linnes · llines · lnies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "línea" for "lines" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈlinea] versus /laɪnz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "línea" or "lines" show up more?
"línea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #445 in our Spanish list, against #42,009 for "lines". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "línea" and "lines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "línea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #148,124 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "línea" and "lines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lies vs lines". 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 #148,124 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