Lean vs. Lien (Grammar Rules)
Learn when to use lean vs. lien in your writing with Grammar Rules from the Writer’s Digest editors, including a few examples.
For this Grammar Rules post, let's take a look at when to use lean and lien. One word can be used to describe a slice of meat or bending a certain direction, while the other word is an economic term that most people would probably rather not experience.
Lean vs. Lien
Lean has many different meanings and can be used as a noun, verb, or adjective. As a verb, it could mean to bend a certain direction (physically, psychologically, or metaphorically) and/or rely on someone or something for inspiration or support. As a noun, it represents the act of leaning. And as an adjective, it can represent containing little to no fat (whether that means you have a lean physique or a lean slice of meat) and/or lacking sufficiency, productivity, or value.
Lien, on the other hand, is an economic term related to applying a charge to real or personal property to satisfy a debt of some sort. For instance, say you owe $5,000 to a credit card company; they could go through the courts to apply a $5,000 lien against your house (or car or some other piece of property) that would need to be paid to sell the property.
Here are a couple examples of lean vs. lien:
Correct: After months of working out, she looked very lean on the tennis court.
Incorrect: After months of working out, she looked very lien on the tennis court.
Correct: The loan collection agency placed a lien on his house.
Incorrect: The loan collection agency place a lean on his house.
I don't have any special memory games for keeping these words straight in your mind, but I do have a link to a song you can lean on.
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Sometimes, the best way to improve your writing is to go back to basics, to revisit the things you should have been paying attention to in your high school English classes (we won’t tell!). Whether you’re writing freelance articles for publications, editing your novel draft, or trying to write more professional emails, the Writer’s Digest Guide to Better Writing offers more than 50 techniques, strategies, and grammar rules with practical, real-world examples to help improve your writing.
