Which to use
“ice” and “item” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,081
- “ice” frequency rank
- #2,629
- “item” frequency rank
- 3710
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ice | item |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Water in frozen (solid) form. | A distinct physical object. |
Where the eye mixes ice and item
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ice and item
A purely visual mix-up. ice (/aɪs/) and item (/ˈaɪ.təm/) 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 3710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ice is recorded at frequency rank #1,081, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɪs/. item is at rank #2,629, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪ.təm/.
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 3710, this pair ranks #521,234 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ice vs item
Shared letters: ei. Private to "ice": c. Private to "item": mt.
"ice" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "item" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- item ← ietm · itemm · ittem
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ice" and "item" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "ice" or "item" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "item" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #521,234 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ice" and "item" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "item vs ith". 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 #521,234 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.