English homophones
it's/its
2 "it's, its" spellings share pronunciation /ɪts/; meaning alone separates them. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Meaning separates the spellings
it's, its are held together only by pronunciation /ɪts/. With no grammar or frequency gap large enough to tip the choice, read each definition before you commit a spelling.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "it" then splits - "it's" (4 letters) vs "its" (3).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across it's, its: ist. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
it's
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape VCC
Inventory ist · no private letters vs siblings
its
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape VCC
Inventory ist · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "it's" when you mean: Contraction of it + is.
- Write "its" when you mean: Belonging to it.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (it's, its). Here's where to go from here.
- "its" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #75 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: installment · instalment. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "it's, its" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.