Which to use
“lice” and “limes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,965
- “lice” frequency rank
- #48,011
- “limes” frequency rank
- 62976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lice | limes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Palissade, en particulier celle qui délimite le champ clos préparé pour les jeux et exercices équestres, les joutes, tournois, etc. | Système de fortifications établi au long de certaines des frontières de l’Empire romain. |
Where the eye mixes lice and limes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. lice runs 4 letters (CVCV) against limes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lice with limes
A purely visual mix-up. lice (\lis\) and limes (\li.mɛs\) 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 62976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lice is recorded at frequency rank #14,965, classified as anoun, pronounced \lis\. limes is at rank #48,011, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.mɛs\.
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 62976, this pair ranks #84,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lice vs limes
Shared letters: eil. Private to "lice": c. Private to "limes": ms.
"lice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "limes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lice" for "limes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "lice" or "limes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "lice" and "limes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "limes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #84,273 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lice" and "limes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liker vs limes". 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 #84,273 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.