Which to use
“limbe” and “limes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,880
- “limbe” frequency rank
- #48,011
- “limes” frequency rank
- 87891
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | limbe | limes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bord, généralement gradué, d’un instrument de mesure circulaire. | Système de fortifications établi au long de certaines des frontières de l’Empire romain. |
Where the eye mixes limbe and limes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. limbe (CVCCV) and limes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: limbe vs limes
A purely visual mix-up. limbe (\lɛ̃b\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
limbe is recorded at frequency rank #39,880, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ̃b\. 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 87891, this pair ranks #7,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of limbe vs limes
Shared letters: eilm. Private to "limbe": b. Private to "limes": s.
"limbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "limes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "limbe" and "limes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "limbe" vs "limes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "limbe" 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 #7,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "limbe" 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 #7,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.