ick vs is, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ick” is a pronoun and “is” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,183
“ick” frequency rank: #478
“is” frequency rank: 16661
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ick	is
Definition	unbetontes „ich“	[1] umgangssprachlich, dialektal, norddeutsch: 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes ick and is

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

3 ch

ick

2 ch

Visual trap between ick and is

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ick is [ɪk] while is is [ɪs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16661, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ick is recorded at frequency rank #16,183, classified as apron, pronounced [ɪk]. is is at rank #478, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɪs].

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 16661, this pair ranks #1,934,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ick vs is

Shared letters: i. Private to "ick": ck. Private to "is": s.

"ick" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "is" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ick" and "is" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ick" is a pronoun and "is" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "ick" or "is" show up more?

"is" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #478 in our German list, against #16,183 for "ick". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "ick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "is" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,934,008 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ick" and "is" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ick vs IMs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,934,008 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.