ISOvsIstsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,887
“ISO” frequency rank
#14,331
“Ists” frequency rank
23218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ISO Ists
Definition Internationale Organisation für Normung (International Organization for Standardization); Vereinigung von Normungsorganisationen, die internationale Normen erarbeitet Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Ist

Where the eye mixes ISO and Ists

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

3 ch
ISO
4 ch
Ists

Why the eye confuses ISO with Ists

A purely visual mix-up. ISO ([iːsoː]) and Ists ([ɪst͡s]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ISO is recorded at frequency rank #8,887, classified as anoun, pronounced [iːsoː]. Ists is at rank #14,331, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɪst͡s].

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 23218, this pair ranks #1,864,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ISO vs Ists

Shared letters: is. Private to "ISO": o. Private to "Ists": t.

"ISO" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Ists" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Istsissts · istss · istts · itss · sits

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ISO" for "Ists" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([iːsoː] versus [ɪst͡s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ISO" or "Ists" show up more?
"ISO" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,887 in our German list, against #14,331 for "Ists". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ISO" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ists" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,864,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ISO" and "Ists" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs Ists". 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 #1,864,220 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