icesvsIEDWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,810
“ices” frequency rank
#32,440
“IED” frequency rank
81250
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ices IED
Definition plural of ice Initialism of Intelligent Electronic Device, a sensor, actuator, or PLC used as part of a SCADA system.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
ices
3 ch
IED

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ices (/ˈaɪsɪz/) and IED (/ˌaɪ iː ˈdiː/) 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 81250, 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/. IED is at rank #32,440, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌaɪ iː ˈdiː/.

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 81250, this pair ranks #18,061 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ices vs IED

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

"ices" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "IED" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • icescies · icces · icess · icse · iecs

Frequency comparison

ices#48,810
IED#32,440

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ices" and "IED" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaɪsɪz/ versus /ˌaɪ iː ˈdiː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ices" or "IED"?
"IED" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,440 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.

Remembering ices vs IED

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ices” 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