Which to use
“links” and “lires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,149
- “links” frequency rank
- #35,129
- “lires” frequency rank
- 80278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | links | lires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Terrain de golf. | Pluriel de lire. |
Where the eye mixes links and lires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. links (CVCCC) and lires (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between links and lires
A purely visual mix-up. links (\link\) and lires (\liʁ\) 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 80278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
links is recorded at frequency rank #45,149, classified as anoun, pronounced \link\. lires is at rank #35,129, tagged as anoun, pronounced \liʁ\.
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 80278, this pair ranks #21,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of links vs lires
Shared letters: ils. Private to "links": kn. Private to "lires": er.
"links" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "lires" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "links" for "lires" ever safe?
Frequency check: "links" vs "lires" - which ranks higher?
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 "links" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "links" and "lires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linges vs links". 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 #21,360 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.