linesvslisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,009
“lines” frequency rank
#20,413
“lis” frequency rank
62422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lines lis
Definition La forma exterior o proporciones de un barco, edificio, etcétera. (Iris) Planta de la familia de las irídeas, formada por tallos que miden generalmente entre cinco y seis decímetros de largo, con hojas ensiformes que tienen cerca de la mitad de esa longitud, y que terminan en flores de gran tamaño, con seis pétalos de vivos colores, generalmente morado, azul o blanco.

Where the eye mixes lines and lis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
lines
3 ch
lis

Why the eye confuses lines with lis

A purely visual mix-up. lines (/laɪnz/) and lis ([ˈlis]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lines is recorded at frequency rank #42,009, classified as anoun, pronounced /laɪnz/. lis is at rank #20,413, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈlis].

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 62422, this pair ranks #52,083 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lines vs lis

Shared letters: ils. Private to "lines": en. Private to "lis": -.

"lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linesilnes · liens · liness · linnes · llines · lnies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lines" and "lis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/laɪnz/ versus [ˈlis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lines" or "lis"?
"lis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,413 in our Spanish list, against #42,009 for "lines". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,083 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lines" and "lis" 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 #52,083 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