lien

/\ljɛ̃\/ noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#656

in French word usage

Misspellings

4

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

lien is aFrenchnoun. It means: Ce qui sert à lier, à attacher des objets ou des parties ensemble. Pronounced \ljɛ̃\. It ranks #656 in French word frequency. Often confused with lit and lis.

Key facts for lien
PropertyValue
Headwordlien
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ljɛ̃\
Letters4
Frequency rank#656
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of lien in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for lien is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ljɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #656 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 4 documented wrong-spelling variants for lien, with forms such as "ilen", "lein", and "lienn". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lit", "lis", "lin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is lien, spelled L-I-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui sert à lier, à attacher des objets ou des parties ensemble.
  2. 2
    Corde ou chaîne qui sert à attacher un prisonnier. En ce sens, il se met ordinairement au pluriel.
  3. 3
    Engagement ; contrat ; attache ; union.
  4. 4
    Élément qui rattache deux ou plusieurs choses entre elles, assure leur relation.
  5. 5
    Dépendance dans laquelle une femme tient un homme en dehors du mariage.
  6. 6
    Les barres horizontales ou obliques réunissant plusieurs figures de notes à crochets successives.
  7. 7
    Moyen hypertexte de transfert vers une source du Web.
  8. 8
    Référence à un fichier ou répertoire apparaissant elle-même comme un fichier.
  9. 9
    Connexion prévue par le concepteur d’une application informatique pour relier des programmes, des parties de programmes, des données, des documents, des sites ou des pages sur la toile.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ilen,lein,lienn,llien

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for lien

Misspelling Variants of "lien"

ilen4lein4lienn5llien5
Misspelling Variants of "lien"

Frequency rank: #656 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lien"?
"lien" is spelled L-I-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ljɛ̃\.
What does "lien" mean?
As a noun, "lien" means: Ce qui sert à lier, à attacher des objets ou des parties ensemble.
What words are commonly confused with "lien"?
"lien" is commonly confused with "lit", "lis", "lin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lien"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lien" is \ljɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lien" come from?
"lien" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter L in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.