Which to use
“live” and “lives” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,853
- “live” frequency rank
- #34,192
- “lives” frequency rank
- 40045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | live | lives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de livañ o liviñ. | Segunda persona del singular del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de livañ o liviñ. |
Where the eye mixes live and lives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between live and lives
A purely visual mix-up. live (/ˈliː.ve/) and lives (/ˈliː.vɛs/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “live” sits inside “lives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
live is recorded at frequency rank #5,853, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈliː.ve/. lives is at rank #34,192, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈliː.vɛs/.
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 40045, this pair ranks #161,217 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of live vs lives
Shared letters: eilv. Private to "live": -. Private to "lives": s.
"live" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "lives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "live" and "lives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "live" or "lives"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "live" and "lives" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "live" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,217 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "live" and "lives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lives 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 #161,217 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.