Which to use
“ich” is a pronoun and “ies” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,826
- “ich” frequency rank
- #45,988
- “ies” frequency rank
- 67814
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ich | ies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | I. | plural of i, the name of the letter I. |
Letter map: ich vs ies
Shared letters muted; letters that set ich and ies apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. ich (VCC) and ies (VVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Part-of-speech tell for ich / ies
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ich is apronoun and iesanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ich is recorded at frequency rank #21,826, classified as apron, pronounced /iːt͡ʃ/. ies is at rank #45,988, tagged as anoun.
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 67814, this pair ranks #61,632 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ich vs ies
Shared letters: i. Private to "ich": ch. Private to "ies": es.
"ich" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ies" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ich" for "ies" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ich" or "ies"?
What to do next
Pair "ich" vs "ies" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "ich" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,632 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ich" and "ies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ies vs ith". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #61,632 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.