A lie, lying, or falsehood, is the uttering of what one knows to be false with intent to deceive. Falsehood and lying are in utterance; deceit and deception may be merely in act or implication.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

lie Such an honest man as John cannot have told a lie.
myth There's a myth that Edison invented the light bulb.
fabrication Even if it's not true, it's a brilliant fabrication.
fib To call that fabrication a fib would be a criminal understatement.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
falsehood		steady
lie		steady
myth		rising
fabrication		falling
fib		rising
falsity		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: lie¹, fib¹
4 letters: myth¹
5 letters: story², lying², error², fable², crock¹
6 letters: bounce¹, canard²
7 letters: fiction², fallacy³, whopper², falsity³, untruth²
8 letters: untruism
9 letters: invention³, mendacity⁴, falseness
10 letters: dishonesty⁴, inveracity
11 letters: fabrication⁴
12 letters: misstatement³
13 letters: falsification⁵, prevarication⁵
14 letters: counterfactual, untruthfulness

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (story² = 2 syllables).