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 |