lit

\li\

/\li\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“lit” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #771) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#771
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Meuble sur lequel on se couche pour dormir, généralement composé d’un cadre de bois ou de métal, qu’on garnit d’un sommier ou d’une paillasse, d’un ou plusieurs matelas, d’un traversin, d’un ou plu...

Corpus desk

Index FR-lit · lit · French

lit · rank #771 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #771
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH départ

Nearest frequency peer: départ (-2 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “lit”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “lit” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lit vs Lu
0% similar
lit vs LR
0% similar
lit vs lo
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lit
PropertyValue
Headwordlit
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\li\
Letters3
Frequency rank#771
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “lit” se place dans la fréquence du français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.litse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « départ » (#769), « mauvais » (#773), « dimanche » (#768). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lit is neighbouring look-alikes ("Lu", "LR", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \li\. Frequency #771 among 2,567 “L” headwords. 12 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for lit in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Lu", "LR", "lo", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is lit, spelled L-I-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Meuble sur lequel on se couche pour dormir, généralement composé d’un cadre de bois ou de métal, qu’on garnit d’un sommier ou d’une paillasse, d’un ou plusieurs matelas, d’un traversin, d’un ou plusieurs oreillers, de draps et de couvertures.
  2. 2
    Tout lieu où l’on peut se coucher.
  3. 3
    Cadre de bois ou de métal, indépendamment de la literie.
  4. 4
    Literie.
  5. 5
    Couche régulière de matière quelconque.
  6. 6
    Chenal occupé par une rivière ou un fleuve.
  7. 7
    Jeux de l'amour que l'on fait allongé.
  8. 8
    Union ; mariage en rapport avec la naissance des enfants.
  9. 9
    Direction du vent, d’un courant.
  10. 10
    Dans un hôpital, ensemble des biens — locaux (chambre), lit, dispositifs médicaux — et des personnels permettant d’accueillir un patient. Place pour un patient dans un service hospitalier.
  11. 11
    Nombre de personnes pouvant être accueillies et traitées dans un service hospitalier.
  12. 12
    Dans une ville ou une région, capacité d'accueil des touristes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how lit appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Le Curé, en mourant, devait laisser à son successeur, un lit garni, un pot de cuivre, un crémail, quelques petits meubles de bois et une poêle à frire.
  2. Evans prend possession de l’unique lit et s’y fourre entre deux édredons, tandis que je monte mon lit de voyage et m’y enroule dans mon plaid.

Synonyms

berceaucouchettecoya

This word in other languages

bed(English)cama(Español)Bett(Deutsch)cama(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lit"?
"lit" is spelled L-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is \li\.
What does "lit" mean?
As a noun, "lit" means: Meuble sur lequel on se couche pour dormir, généralement composé d’un cadre de bois ou de métal, qu’on garnit d’un sommier ou d’une paillasse, d’un ou plusieurs matelas, d’un traversin, d’un ou plu...
What words are commonly confused with "lit"?
"lit" is commonly confused with "Lu", "LR", "lo". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lit"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lit" is \li\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lit" come from?
"lit" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lit", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ben#800new#742sol#833and#837

What to do next

You've looked up "lit". Here's where to go from here.

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list