latevslimeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: late is a verb, lime is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“late” is a verb and “lime” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,276
“late” frequency rank
#40,652
“lime” frequency rank
52928
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature late lime
Definition terceira pessoa do presente do indicativo do verbo latir verde-claro

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set late and lime apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
late
4 ch
lime

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: late is averb and limeanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52928, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

late is recorded at frequency rank #12,276, classified as averb. lime is at rank #40,652, tagged as anadj, pronounced /laɪm/, ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 52928, this pair ranks #12,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of late vs lime

Shared letters: el. Private to "late": at. Private to "lime": im.

"late" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lime" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • latealte · laet · latte · llate · ltae
  • limeilme · liem · limme · llime · lmie

Frequency comparison

late#12,276
lime#40,652

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "late" and "lime" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "late" is a verb and "lime" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "late" or "lime"?
"late" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,276 in our Portuguese list, against #40,652 for "lime". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering late vs lime

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “late”; for an adjective, it's “lime”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “late” 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