Which to use
“lien” and “lieux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #656
- “lien” frequency rank
- #1,003
- “lieux” frequency rank
- 1659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lien | lieux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui sert à lier, à attacher des objets ou des parties ensemble. | Pluriel de lieu (portion de l’espace). |
Where the eye mixes lien and lieux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lien with lieux
A purely visual mix-up. lien (\ljɛ̃\) and lieux (\ljø\) 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 1659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lien is recorded at frequency rank #656, classified as anoun, pronounced \ljɛ̃\. lieux is at rank #1,003, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ljø\.
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 1659, this pair ranks #437,621 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lien vs lieux
Shared letters: eil. Private to "lien": n. Private to "lieux": ux.
"lien" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lieux" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lien" and "lieux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "lien" vs "lieux" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lien" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lieux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,621 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lien" and "lieux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lep vs lien". 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 #437,621 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.