Which to use
“ices” is a noun and “Ives” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,810
- “ices” frequency rank
- #23,012
- “Ives” frequency rank
- 71822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ices | Ives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ice | A surname originating as a patronymic. |
Where the eye mixes ices and Ives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ices and Ives follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: ices vs Ives
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ices is /ˈaɪsɪz/ while Ives is /aɪvz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “ices” becomes v in “Ives”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71822, 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/. Ives is at rank #23,012, tagged as aname, pronounced /aɪvz/.
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 71822, this pair ranks #45,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ices vs Ives
Shared letters: eis. Private to "ices": c. Private to "Ives": v.
"ices" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "Ives" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ices" and "Ives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ices" or "Ives"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Ives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ices" and "Ives" 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 #45,262 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.