icesvsideConfusable pair

Which to use

“ices” and “ide” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,810
“ices” frequency rank
#24,195
“ide” frequency rank
73005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ices ide
Definition plural of ice A freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, found across northern Europe and Asia, especially Leuciscus idus.

Where the eye mixes ices and ide

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
ices
3 ch
ide

Look-alike desk: ices vs ide

A purely visual mix-up. ices (/ˈaɪsɪz/) and ide (/aɪd/) 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 73005, 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/. ide is at rank #24,195, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɪd/.

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 73005, this pair ranks #41,056 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ices vs ide

Shared letters: ei. Private to "ices": cs. Private to "ide": d.

"ices" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ide" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • icescies · icces · icess · icse · iecs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ices" and "ide" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaɪsɪz/ versus /aɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ices" or "ide"?
"ide" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,195 in our English list, against #48,810 for "ices". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "ide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,056 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ices" and "ide" 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 #41,056 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list