linesvslinnWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,506
“lines” frequency rank
#46,866
“linn” frequency rank
74372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lines linn
Definition Pluriel de line. Ville.

Where the eye mixes lines and linn

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

5 ch
lines
4 ch
linn

Visual trap between lines and linn

A purely visual mix-up. lines (\laɪnz\) and linn (\linʲˑ\) 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 74372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lines is recorded at frequency rank #27,506, classified as anoun, pronounced \laɪnz\. linn is at rank #46,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced \linʲˑ\.

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 74372, this pair ranks #37,362 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lines vs linn

Shared letters: iln. Private to "lines": es. Private to "linn": -.

"lines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "linn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linesilnes · liness · linnes · linse · llines · lnies
  • linnilnn · llinn · lnin

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "lines" for "linn" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\laɪnz\ versus \linʲˑ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "lines" vs "linn" - which ranks higher?
"lines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,506 in our French list, against #46,866 for "linn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "linn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,362 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lines" and "linn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linn vs lung". 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 #37,362 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