ices vs Ives, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ices and Ives apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

ices

4 ch

Ives

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

ices ← cies · icces · icess · icse · iecs
Ives ← ievs · ivess · ivse · ivves · vies

Frequency comparison

ices#48,810

Ives#23,012

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ices" and "Ives" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ices" is a noun and "Ives" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ices" or "Ives"?

"Ives" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,012 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 Ives

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ices”; for a name, it's “Ives”.
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