limitvslimiteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,467
“limit” frequency rank
#1,167
“limite” frequency rank
33634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature limit limite
Definition Limite. Restriction ; point réel fini au-delà duquel on ne doit pas aller.

Where the eye mixes limit and limite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
limit
6 ch
limite

Look-alike desk: limit vs limite

A purely visual mix-up. limit (\ˈlɪm.ɪt\) and limite (\li.mit\) 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 extra letter(s) - “limit” sits inside “limite”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

limit is recorded at frequency rank #32,467, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɪm.ɪt\. limite is at rank #1,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.mit\.

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 33634, this pair ranks #289,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of limit vs limite

Shared letters: ilmt. Private to "limit": -. Private to "limite": e.

"limit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "limite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • limitilmit · liimt · limitt · limmit · limti · llimit · lmiit
  • limiteilmite · liimte · limiet · limitte · limmite · limtie · llimite · lmiite

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "limit" for "limite" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈlɪm.ɪt\ versus \li.mit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "limit" vs "limite" - which ranks higher?
"limite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,167 in our French list, against #32,467 for "limit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "limit" and "limite" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "limit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "limite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "limit" and "limite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liait vs limit". 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 #289,317 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list