lienvslikerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lien is a noun, liker is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lien” is a noun and “liker” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#656
“lien” frequency rank
#49,193
“liker” frequency rank
49849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lien liker
Definition Ce qui sert à lier, à attacher des objets ou des parties ensemble. Montrer son soutien, son approbation, son lien, son appréciation, ou bien le fait d’aimer un site ou quelque chose en cliquant sur un bouton virtuel ad'hoc portant un nom éponyme de type I like (« j’aime »).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lien and liker apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lien
5 ch
liker

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lien is \ljɛ̃\ while liker is \laj.ke\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lien is recorded at frequency rank #656, classified as anoun, pronounced \ljɛ̃\. liker is at rank #49,193, tagged as averb, pronounced \laj.ke\.

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 49849, this pair ranks #167,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lien vs liker

Shared letters: eil. Private to "lien": n. Private to "liker": kr.

"lien" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "liker" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lienilen · lein · lienn · llien
  • likerilker · liekr · likerr · likker · likre · lkier · lliker

Frequency comparison

lien#656
liker#49,193

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lien" and "liker" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lien" is a noun and "liker" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lien" or "liker"?
"lien" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #656 in our French list, against #49,193 for "liker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering lien vs liker

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lien”; for a verb, it's “liker”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lien” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list