liesvslinksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“lies” and “links” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,660
“lies” frequency rank
#45,149
“links” frequency rank
69809
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lies links
Definition Pluriel de lie. Terrain de golf.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
lies
5 ch
links

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lies (\li\) 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 69809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lies is recorded at frequency rank #24,660, classified as anoun, pronounced \li\. 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 69809, this pair ranks #53,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lies vs links

Shared letters: ils. Private to "lies": e. Private to "links": kn.

"lies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "links" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • liesleis · liess · llies
  • linksilnks · likns · linkks · linkss · linnks · linsk · llinks · lniks

Frequency comparison

lies#24,660
links#45,149

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lies" and "links" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\li\ versus \link\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lies" or "links"?
"lies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,660 in our French list, against #45,149 for "links". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lies vs links

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lies” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list