lipsvslopesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,867
“lips” frequency rank
#26,082
“lopes” frequency rank
72949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lips lopes
Definition Pluriel de lip. Pluriel de lope.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lips and lopes apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lips
5 ch
lopes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. lips (\ˈlɪps\) and lopes (\lɔp\) 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 72949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lips is recorded at frequency rank #46,867, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈlɪps\. lopes is at rank #26,082, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔp\.

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 72949, this pair ranks #42,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lips vs lopes

Shared letters: lps. Private to "lips": i. Private to "lopes": eo.

"lips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "lopes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lipsilps · lipps · lipss · lisp · llips
  • lopesllopes · loeps · lopess · loppes · lopse · lpoes · olpes

Frequency comparison

lips#46,867
lopes#26,082

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lips" and "lopes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈlɪps\ versus \lɔp\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lips" or "lopes"?
"lopes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,082 in our French list, against #46,867 for "lips". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lips vs lopes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lips” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list