Which to use
“ibis” is a noun and “Ives” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,763
- “ibis” frequency rank
- #23,012
- “Ives” frequency rank
- 58775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ibis | Ives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | A surname originating as a patronymic. |
Where the eye mixes ibis and Ives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ibis and Ives
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ibis is /ˈaɪ.bɪs/ while Ives is /aɪvz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ibis is recorded at frequency rank #35,763, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.bɪs/. Ives is at rank #23,012, tagged as aname, pronounced /aɪvz/.
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 58775, this pair ranks #110,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ibis vs Ives
Shared letters: is. Private to "ibis": b. Private to "Ives": ev.
"ibis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "Ives" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ibis" and "Ives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "ibis" or "Ives" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ibis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Ives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ibis" and "Ives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ibis vs ices". 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 #110,390 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.