Which to use
“ices” is a noun and “icky” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,810
- “ices” frequency rank
- #38,895
- “icky” frequency rank
- 87705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ices | icky |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ice | Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting. |
Where the eye mixes ices and icky
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ices (VCVC) and icky (VCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between ices and icky
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ices is /ˈaɪsɪz/ while icky is /ˈɪki/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ices is recorded at frequency rank #48,810, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɪsɪz/. icky is at rank #38,895, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɪki/.
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 87705, this pair ranks #7,249 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ices vs icky
Shared letters: ci. Private to "ices": es. Private to "icky": ky.
"ices" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "icky" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ices" and "icky" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ices" or "icky"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "icky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,249 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ices" and "icky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ices vs ICJ". 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 #7,249 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.