linvsLinkyWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,118
“lin” frequency rank
#35,128
“Linky” frequency rank
43246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lin Linky
Definition Plante herbacée de la famille des Linacées, à feuilles simples, à fleurs généralement bleues, cultivée dans les pays tempérés pour ses graines oléagineuses et pour la fibre textile que fournit sa tige. Compteur électrique interactif installé en France.

Where the eye mixes lin and Linky

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
lin
5 ch
Linky

Visual trap between lin and Linky

A purely visual mix-up. lin (\lɛ̃\) and Linky (\lin.ki\) 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 extra letter(s) - “lin” sits inside “Linky”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lin is recorded at frequency rank #8,118, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɛ̃\. Linky is at rank #35,128, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lin.ki\.

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 43246, this pair ranks #219,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lin vs Linky

Shared letters: iln. Private to "lin": -. Private to "Linky": ky.

"lin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Linky" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Linkyilnky · likny · linkky · linkyy · linnky · linyk · llinky · lniky

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lin" and "Linky" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɛ̃\ versus \lin.ki\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lin" or "Linky"?
"lin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,118 in our French list, against #35,128 for "Linky". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "lin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Linky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #219,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lin" and "Linky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Linky vs Livry". 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 #219,563 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