Which to use
“lens” and “links” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,866
- “lens” frequency rank
- #45,149
- “links” frequency rank
- 55015
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lens | links |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lentille. | Terrain de golf. |
Where the eye mixes lens and links
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lens runs 4 letters (CVCC) against links's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lens with links
A purely visual mix-up. lens (\ˈlɛnz\) and links (\link\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lens is recorded at frequency rank #9,866, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɛnz\. links is at rank #45,149, tagged as anoun, pronounced \link\.
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 55015, this pair ranks #130,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lens vs links
Shared letters: lns. Private to "lens": e. Private to "links": ik.
"lens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "links" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lens" for "links" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lens" or "links"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "lens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "links" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #130,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lens" and "links" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linges vs links". 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 #130,203 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.