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 |
Letter map: late vs lime
Shared letters muted; letters that set late and lime apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. late and lime follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: late vs lime
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "late" for "lime" ever safe?
Which is more common, "late" or "lime"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "late" and "lime".
- Full dictionary entry for "late" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "late" and "lime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Lied vs lime". 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 #12,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.