Which to use
“limes” and “lis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,011
- “limes” frequency rank
- #3,147
- “lis” frequency rank
- 51158
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | limes | lis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Système de fortifications établi au long de certaines des frontières de l’Empire romain. | Genre de liliacées qui porte, sur une haute tige, des fleurs à trois pétales et trois sépales pétaloïdes. |
Where the eye mixes limes and lis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: limes vs lis
A purely visual mix-up. limes (\li.mɛs\) and lis (\lis\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
limes is recorded at frequency rank #48,011, classified as anoun, pronounced \li.mɛs\. lis is at rank #3,147, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lis\.
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 51158, this pair ranks #157,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of limes vs lis
Shared letters: ils. Private to "limes": em. Private to "lis": -.
"limes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "lis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- limes ← ilmes · liems · limess · limmes · limse · llimes · lmies
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "limes" for "lis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "limes" or "lis"?
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 "limes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "limes" and "lis" 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 #157,131 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.