Parameter

Rivers

Lakes

Formation

Natural bodies of water

Can be either natural or artificial

Flow of water

Flowing body of water

Standing body of water

Link to another body of water

Connects to a larger body of water

Does not connect to another body of water

Appearance

Looks like a snake slithering away

Looks like a huge puddles of water

Connection with other inland waterbodies

Moves along its water banks and communicates with other waterbodies

Inland, does not communicate with other waterbodies

Land-locking

Not enclosed by a body of land; rivers are bodies of water with land masses, or long stretches of land bordering their sides

Enclosed by a body of land; lake is a still waterbody usually land-locked, enclosed or surrounded by land from all four sides except a side where it is fed by any moving body of water