IrakvsIvanWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Irak” and “Ivan” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,280
“Irak” frequency rank
#12,944
“Ivan” frequency rank
17224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Irak Ivan
Definition Staat in Vorderasien männlicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes Irak and Ivan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Irak
4 ch
Ivan

Why the eye confuses Irak with Ivan

A purely visual mix-up. Irak ([iˈʁaːk]) and Ivan ([ˈiːvaːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Irak is recorded at frequency rank #4,280, classified as aname, pronounced [iˈʁaːk]. Ivan is at rank #12,944, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈiːvaːn].

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 17224, this pair ranks #1,929,280 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Irak vs Ivan

Shared letters: ai. Private to "Irak": kr. Private to "Ivan": nv.

"Irak" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Ivan" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Irakiark · irakk · irka · irrak · riak
  • Ivaniavn · ivann · ivna · ivvan · vian

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Irak" for "Ivan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([iˈʁaːk] versus [ˈiːvaːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Irak" vs "Ivan" - which ranks higher?
"Irak" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,280 in our German list, against #12,944 for "Ivan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Irak" and "Ivan" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Irak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ivan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,929,280 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Irak" and "Ivan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IPA vs Ivan". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,929,280 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