IC
[iːˈtseː]
The verdict
“IC” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #9,048) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #9,048
- frequency rank, German
- 1,488
- “I” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - ein in mehreren europäischen Ländern verkehrender Schnellzug; Intercityzug
Corpus desk
Index DE-ic · IC · German
IC · rank #9,048 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #9,048
- LEN-SHORT 2 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,488
- PHOTO-FINISH Hülle
Nearest frequency peer: Hülle (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “IC”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- hetze
hetze
90,956 corpus weight
- Heulen
Heulen
90,955 corpus weight
- Hülle
Hülle
90,954 corpus weight
- IC
IC
90,953 corpus weight
- Irrtum
Irrtum
90,952 corpus weight
- isoliert
isoliert
90,951 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “IC” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | IC |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Abbreviation |
| IPA | [iːˈtseː] |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #9,048 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “IC” sits in German frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for IC is neighbouring look-alikes ("im", "is", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation pronounced [iːˈtseː]. Frequency #9,048 among 1,488 “I” headwords. Gloss: "ein in mehreren europäischen Ländern verkehrender Schnellzug; Intercityzug".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for IC, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "im", "is", "ii", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is IC, spelled I-C.
Definition
- 1ein in mehreren europäischen Ländern verkehrender Schnellzug; Intercityzug
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how IC appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Mit dem IC zu fahren ist günstiger als mit dem ICE.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.