icedvsidesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: iced is a adjective, ides is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“iced” is an adjective and “ides” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,832
“iced” frequency rank
#44,856
“ides” frequency rank
60688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature iced ides
Definition With ice added. The notional full-moon day of a Roman month, occurring on the 15th day of the four original 31-day months (March, May, Quintilis or July, and October) and on the 13th day of all other months.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
iced
4 ch
ides

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: iced is /ˈaɪst/ while ides is /aɪdz/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

iced is recorded at frequency rank #15,832, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈaɪst/. ides is at rank #44,856, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɪdz/.

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 60688, this pair ranks #98,687 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of iced vs ides

Shared letters: dei. Private to "iced": c. Private to "ides": s.

"iced" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • icedcied · icced · icde · icedd · iecd
  • idesiddes · idess · idse · ieds

Frequency comparison

iced#15,832
ides#44,856

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "iced" and "ides" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "iced" is an adjective and "ides" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "iced" or "ides"?
"iced" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,832 in our English list, against #44,856 for "ides". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering iced vs ides

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list