IBA vs ibis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“IBA” is a name and “ibis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,762
“IBA” frequency rank: #35,763
“ibis” frequency rank: 71525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	IBA	ibis
Definition	Initialism of International Bartenders Association.	Any of various long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, having long downcurved bills used to probe the mud for prey such as crustaceans.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set IBA and ibis apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

IBA

4 ch

ibis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: IBA is aname and ibisanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

IBA is recorded at frequency rank #35,762, classified as aname. ibis is at rank #35,763, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.bɪs/.

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 71525, this pair ranks #46,377 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of IBA vs ibis

Shared letters: bi. Private to "IBA": a. Private to "ibis": s.

"IBA" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ibis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

ibis ← biis · ibbis · ibiss · ibsi · iibs

Frequency comparison

IBA#35,762

ibis#35,763

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "IBA" and "ibis" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "IBA" is a name and "ibis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "IBA" or "ibis"?

"IBA" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,762 in our English list, against #35,763 for "ibis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering IBA vs ibis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “IBA”; for a noun, it's “ibis”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “IBA” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable