ICDvsistTell them apart

Quick tell: ICD is a abbrev, ist is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ICD” is an abbrev and “ist” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,988
“ICD” frequency rank
#7
“ist” frequency rank
36995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ICD ist
Definition von der WHO herausgegebene „Internationale statistische Klassifikation der Krankheiten und verwandter Gesundheitsprobleme“ 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes ICD and ist

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ICD
3 ch
ist

Visual trap between ICD and ist

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ICD is [iːtseːˈdeː] while ist is [ɪst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ICD is recorded at frequency rank #36,988, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [iːtseːˈdeː]. ist is at rank #7, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɪst].

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 36995, this pair ranks #1,601,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ICD vs ist

Shared letters: i. Private to "ICD": cd. Private to "ist": st.

"ICD" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ist" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ICD" and "ist" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ICD" is an abbrev and "ist" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ICD" or "ist" show up more?
"ist" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7 in our German list, against #36,988 for "ICD". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ICD" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,601,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ICD" and "ist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ICD vs IMs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,601,468 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list