Which to use
“license” and “lichens” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,127
- “license” frequency rank
- #45,709
- “lichens” frequency rank
- 80836
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | license | lichens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Licence. | Pluriel de lichen. |
Where the eye mixes license and lichens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. license (CVCVCCV) and lichens (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: license vs lichens
A purely visual mix-up. license (\ˈlaɪ.səns\) and lichens (\li.kɛn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
license is recorded at frequency rank #35,127, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlaɪ.səns\. lichens is at rank #45,709, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.kɛn\.
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 80836, this pair ranks #20,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of license vs lichens
Shared letters: ceilns. Private to "license": -. Private to "lichens": h.
"license" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "lichens" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "license" for "lichens" ever safe?
Which is more common, "license" or "lichens"?
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 "license" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lichens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,031 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "license" and "lichens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lichens vs loches". 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 #20,031 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.